Illea High School
by ClaceMaxericaSizzy
Summary: America Singer is attending Illea High School. In her school, there is a social ladder which people like to call the castes. America is in the caste of eight, the bullied and ignored. But will that change for better or for worse when she meets a certain golden haired boy? *wink wink* (Guess who he is)
1. Chapter 1- The Social Ladder

AMERICA POV:

Beep. Beep. Beep.

Great. Another school year of being on the bottom of the social ladder. Another year of getting the crap bullied out of me.

Hi, my name is America Singer. I live with my sister May, and three other brothers, Kota, Gerad, and James.

You see, in our school, we have this unintentional social ladder called the are the Ones, Twos, Threes, and it goes on until the eights.

The top of the social ladder are the ones. The rich, pretty, and cocky people. Their faces are caked with arrogance (and in the girls case, make up) they are all jocks or cheerleaders who don't give a crap about anyone who is lower than the caste of two.

Then there are the twos, a little less rich, but still on the top of the social ladder. It goes all the way to the eights. The eights are people who get ignored and bullied. I'm with the eights.

You see, the only reason why I am in the eights is because I am poor. My parents are struggling artists with a big family to feed.

I got off the bed and looked at myself in the mirror.

My hair was fire-truck red, waves running down my back, and my too-pale skin radiated with a ghost like aura. Well, that's what happens when go to high school and in the bottom of the social ladder- it sucks the life outta you. My dull grayish blue eyes stared back lazily at me. Under my eyes were the dark circles from all the stress from school.

I sighed. I look like crap compared to the Ones. Girls that were ones all looked like models, but were slutty. They wore clothes that could fit a 5-year old and their "junk" were usually hanging out of their so-called shirts (more like a strip of fabric).

"Hurry up America! You're going to be late for school!" My mother yelled.

"Kay mom. Be down in a sec."

I rushed to get dressed in my normal t-shirt and faded jeans. I put on a little mascara and eyeliner and ran downstairs.

I whipped up and ate a quick breakfast and ran out the house, spouting a quick byeee to my family before I rushed to catch my bus to school.

*Time skip to when she arrives at school*

I arrive at school and I immediately catch up with my friend, Marlee Tames. She was a seven and is one step above me in the social ladder. She used to be a seven, but got promoted because she started dating a three named Carter Woodwork. Marlee comes from a relatively rich family (her parents recently got a job offer as the boss of Forever Illea, a clothing store with the newest trends) and she loves to shop. (For all of you TMI fans, just think of a blonde Izzy) Marlee is blonde with sun kissed skin and has a very perky attitude.

"OMG AMERICA! I missed you so much! What did you do over the summer? Oh my gosh your hair got so much longer and prettier!" Marlee yells at me.

"Marlee! One statement at a time girl!" I laughed

"Sorry, over the summer I was deprived of Americas and I am just so excited to see you! wanna go on a shopping trip on Saturday!"

"Sure Marlee! Let's compare schedules!"

1st Period- History with Ms. Nicoletta Gray

2nd Period- Gym with Mr. August Cebrick

3rd Period- AP Math with Ms. Sylvia Elbury

Lunch

4th Period- Language Arts with Ms. Olivia Walters

5th Period- AP Chemistry with Ms. Zoe Drew

6th Period- Music with Ms. Natalie Somers

7th Period- Art with Ms. Anna Farmer

"We got Gym, Lunch, and Music together!"

"Great! So I'll see you at gym!"

"See ya America! Hugs and Kissies!"

I laughed and walked down the corridor. There and then, my attitude took a 180. They spotted me.

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**Comment and please review and follow!**

**-ClaceMaxericaSizzy**


	2. Chapter 2- Meet Maxon

**Enjoy a slightly longer chapter with a golden haired guy! Guess who...**

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**Chapter 2: Meet Maxon**

**AMERICA POV:**

Shoot. They are coming.

"Hey Ginger! How are you doing?" Aspen, a two sneered at me

"Go away Leger, I need to get to class," I said

"But I didn't get to finish business with you!"

"I don't really care."

I shoved past him, trying to ignore him, but with no prevail, he grabbed my arm and slapped me across my face.

"What the heck? What did you do that for?"

"No one says I don't care to Aspen Leger!"

Told you. The twos and above are a bunch of narcissist jerks who thinks the world revolve around them. I mean, who says "No one says I don't care to Aspen Leger!" what are we in, the 1800's?

"Last time I checked, this isn't the 1800's where people thought the sun revolves people! Oh wait, you are too stupid figure that out!" I retorted.

Ah. Curse my mouth. Blurts everything that comes into my brain.

In my brain, I was counting down the seconds until I should feel a fist come in contact with me, while holding eye-contact with my gray eyes with those disgusting pair of green eyes.

He slaps me again, this time harder. I lose my balance and fall to the ground with a loud 'umpf!' and he pins me to the hard tile ground with his left hand around neck. By this time, a lot of people were crowding around us, anxious to see what happens next.

Aspen raises his freehand to punch me, until a "STOP!" rings out throughout the corridor.

**MAXON POV:**

*a few minutes before*

I smirked at all the longing glances from the girls and the jealous glances from the guys as I stepped out of my golden Porsche.

"Sup." I said, popping the p, to all of my fellow Ones and Twos. All the girls sighed and in the corner of my eye, I think I saw a girl faint. You see, me being THE supreme One, I had extreme reign over the school. I had the power to get any girl I wanted, and I always had a fan group following me all around the school.

School was fabulous for me as always. I was on the football team, lacrosse team, and the basketball team.

As I enter the school and into the west corridor, my best bud, Carter Woodwork, joins next to me. I see him flip his brown hair and wink his blue eyes at Marlee, his girlfriend. I honestly feel good for him that he is recovering from his "player" status while I am still in the midst of that "player" status. I see Marlee wave back at him before she rushes off, to meet a friend, I suppose by the surprised and happy look on her face.

"So how's your summer dude?" Carter asked me.

"Well, you know the usual, clubbing, girls, practicing football, girls, and all that stuff. How 'bout you Carter?" I smirk.

"Uh well, I went to the beach with Marlee, went clubbing with Marlee, shopping with Marlee, and all that good stuff with Marlee."

I rolled my eyes at his obsession with Marlee.

"So which girls did you settle on this summer?"

"Well I-"I was interrupted by a loud scream echoing off the walls. I rushed toward the sound

Then and there I saw a beautifully horrific sight. Wait, that doesn't make sense. Let me break it down for you.

The horrific part was that Aspen, my rival in sports, was slapping a girl, and choking her on the ground. Well, you can guess the beautiful part…

Her hair was the most vibrant hair I had ever seen. The red of her hair was like sunshine, fire, roses, and Winnie the Pooh's shirt put together. Her pale skin radiated a creamy- _Snap out of it Maxon! _I mentally scolded myself. _What are you saying Maxon! Beautiful? Sunshine? WINNIE THE POOH'S SHIRT? You only look at sexy girls! What's wrong with you? _But I still had to help that girl on the ground before she got even more hurt.

"STOP!" I said with the loudest voice I could muster.

**AMERICA POV:**

"STOP!" Those words were echoing in my head. Then, the sudden release of Aspen's hand almost gave me whiplash. I attempted to lift up my head (and failed) and my head bonked on the ground. I used my callused hands to lift my upper body up against the lockers. The corners of my eyes danced with yellow and black spots.

I scan the scene in front of me. I gasped, surprised that anyone would stop a Two from beating up an Eight. Then I nearly yelped (don't worry it was from surprise, not purely pain) at the scene in front of me.

Everyone was screaming "fight fight fight!" I saw my bully get picked off the ground and receive a right hook to the face. Then I saw my savior drop him and then he put his foot on his chest and whispered quietly to him, so quiet that I strained to hear, "Don't you ever dare hurt that girl ever again."

And he lifts up his head. The golden strands of hair above his hot-chocolate brown eyes are beautiful. His tan, and muscular arms- _Shut the hell up America! Look at who your oogling at! _My savior was Maxon Shreave, the supreme One of the school.

Then I blacked out.

**MAXON POV:**

"Don't you ever dare hurt that girl ever again" I said in my deadly quiet voice to Aspen.

I got my foot off his chest and said to the crowd that the fight conjured up, "Hello fellow classmates, you may continue with your classes." I said while smirking at Aspen, whose head was hanging down in humiliation. I winked at a couple hot girls as the crowd dissipated.

Suddenly I remembered the beat up girl on the ground. I turned my head to look at her and she was staring at me.

Her eyes were the most magnificent eyes that I ever seen. They were ice blue and watery blue speckles in them, contrasting against her fiery hair. _SNAP OUT OF IT YOU DUMBASS!_

We stared for a couple of seconds until this faraway look appeared in eyes. Then her head lolled and she slumped to the ground.

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**Hey Hey Hey! How are all of you! Thanks for the people who reviewed and commented on my first ever fan fic! Hope you liked this slightly longer chapter!**


	3. Chapter 3- Where the Sun Don't Shine

**DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN THE SELECTION TRILOGY. SORRY BUDDY.**

Chapter 3: Where the Sun Don't Shine

MAXON POV (cuz we all love him)

RRRING! The first period warning bell blared.

Shoot. I have to choose between an eight and being late to class. I look at the slumped body leaning against the lockers and glanced at the classroom door. My body jumped out of my skin when the eight's body folded again into another uncomfortable position and made a loud 'clunk'.

Suddenly, I felt guilty looking at the classroom door.

And I chose the body.

I carried the fragile and limp body outside the school, under a big willow tree (I didn't know if mysterious girl would like me bringing her to the nurse, then, the nurse alerting her parents). I propped her back on the tree's large trunk. Hopefully, the tree's dark long leaves should shelter no name girl from the brisk autumn heat. I quickly pulled an ice pack from my lunch bag and placed it on top of her pristine-china-like face. I check the angry bump forming on the crown of her head and shift the ice pack there. I move a couple feet to the right and just stare at her.

I shake my head in confusion. Why am I staring at her? I tear my eyes away from her and try to focus on a small bird.

But my eyes slowly drift back to her. A couple seconds later, she makes a loud groan.

"I see you've awakened,"I reply to her groan.

Her eyes flicker open and flutter and I could finally see her ice blue eyes, glaring at me. Then a thankful look on her face washed away the glare.

"Thank you for saving me from Aspen, Maxon." she said. I flinched at the soft melodic sound of her saying my name. _Stop. it. Maxon. You make girls fall for you, not you fall for them. Whattttt! No, I am not falling for her. SHUT UP MAXON! You need to-_

"Uh hello? Maxon? Are you there?" She asked.

"Yup! I'm here, just a little distracted. Wait... How do you know my name?"

"Are you serious? Everyone knows your name! You are The One in our school! Your face is practically everywhere in the school from all the awards you won! My god! You even have a fan club!"

"Uh yeah, guess I forgot. Um hey, what's your name?"_ Wait, why am I stuttering, Maxon does not stutter._

"Whoops, I guess I forgot I'm not widely known around the school." A sad and angry look appeared on her face as she continued, "I'm America Singer, caste of eight."

An eight? What the hell? I thought that she was Aspen's ex-girlfriend who was a two? With her looks, I mean, she should at least be a Three! Ya. Her eyes so pretty, contrasting her bright red hair. The hair also shows her stubborn attitude too. I like how it flows with the wind.

I didn't notice her walking up to me.

I also didn't notice she put her hands on my shoulders and looked me in the eye.

And kneed me where the sun don't shine.

**AMERICA POV:**

Before the darkness took over me, I saw a flash of golden yellow hair.

And then I fell unconscious.

I woke up under a big willow tree, with my back set on the tree's trunk. There was a nice pack on my head and felt the lump growing on my head. I pressed it and made a loud groan. He says something unintelligible. My back was aching due to the scratchy trunk, and my head was throbbing. What I didn't notice was that Maxon Shreave was staring at me.

Ah. Maxon Shreave, notorious for being on the football, lacrosse, and basketball team, and a huge player. Rumors say he brings a new girl home every single day.

Ew. Gross. I think I just baby barfed.

All girls swoon over him. And now, he seems to me like he is checking me out.

I glare at him, thinking about all the girls he brought home and slept with and all the hearts he'd broken.

Ew.

I think I just baby barfed. Again.

But then I think about the situation this morning, where he saved me from Aspen. I put a thankful look on my face.

"Thank you for saving me from Aspen, Maxon." I said just to break his stare at me and the awkward silence.

No response. He's still staring at me with a faraway look in his eyes. I'm starting to get creeped out.

"Uh hello? Maxon? Are you there?" I asked.

He flinched and said stupidly, "Yup! I'm here, just a little distracted. Wait... How do you know my name?"

Oh. My. Gosh. Is he serious? He is THE One in our school!

"Are you serious? Everyone knows your name! You are The One in our school! Your face is practically everywhere in the school from all the awards you won! My god! You even have a fan club!"

"Uh yeah, guess I forgot. Um hey, what's your name?" Maxon asked.

"Whoops, I guess I forgot I'm not widely known around the school." I think about why this school has such a severe social ladder. "I'm America, caste of eight."

The creepy faraway look returns to his face and he is checking me out. Again.

I put on a smile and walk up to him, put my hands on his shoulders look up at him.

He was still checking me out. Queue third baby barf.

And I kneed him in the thigh. Hard.

And I reckon that was one of the proudest moments of my life.

"HOLY SHI- what was that for?!"

"For checking me out. I can give you another knee if you want."

"But-" as if like realization dawned on him "that doesn't explain why you KNEED ME IN THE GROIN!"

"I didn't. I kneed you the thigh."I said as I stormed away. "THANKS THOUGH!"I yelled.

~Page Break~

Because I missed half of first period, I decided to skip it. Why not? It was better than attracting all the attention when you are late. You walk in and teacher and all the students are looking at you. Then, there is the awkward silence as you scurry to find a seat (that's not in the front), but lucky you, all the seats are taken but the one right in front of the teacher. After that, all through class, the teacher sneaks glares at you.

So, I decided to sit out in the halls.

Oh, how that was such a bad idea.

I started by getting out my song notebook out and write down some lyrics for my new song "Never Have I Ever"**A/N (Never Have I Ever is by Megan Nicole. Check it out! I LOVE that song)** I get lost in the lyrics until I hear a moan coming from the hallway behind me.

I quietly walk towards the noise. As I peeked my head from the corner, I scarred my eyes forever.

Celeste Newsome (a Two) was making out with Maxon Screave. I gag.

I tried to ignore the moans and kissing sounds as I worked on my song, but I couldn't. I mean, it was disturbing my zen! And I need zen when I'm writing my songs! I was going to interrupt them when I heard whispering, then crying. I quickly rushed toward the sound.

There I saw Celeste, with her her buried in her hands, crouched on the ground. I quietly crept up to her.

"Are you okay, Celeste?" Oh my gosh America! She's on the ground crying! Does she look okay? I mentally face-palmed.

She looked up and said, "Why do you even care? You barely even know me!"

"I heard crying sounds while I was trying to write a song, and I saw that you weren't okay, so I wanted to check on you because it isn't usual to find any girl sobbing in the hallways." I explained to her. "By the way, I'm America, caste of eight."

"I'm Celeste and Maxon j-just broke up with me!" She sobbed into my shirt while I patted her back.

"Don't worry, you will find a person better than him." I comforted her.

Unexpectedly, she hugged me. After this, we just chatted until it was the next class.

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**So! There you have it! Celeste is officially America****'****s friend. Yay. The third chapter of Illea High School! **

**Also, to answer Someone the World Forgot's question, sorry! I had to make someone an evil dude.**

**It may be a little too late for this but...**

***WARNING ASPEN LOVERS. HE IS EXTREMELY OOC. SORRY FOR YOUR INCONVENIENCE.***

**Anyway, thanks for reviewing and favoriting my story!**

**For now on, I will try to post every two to four days (depends on homework load [I know it****'****s summer for you people in the northern hemisphere, me too, but my mom signed me up for a summer class. Whoo. Yay. I****'****m Happy.] ****I hope you can read the sarcasm).**

**Thanks to jstachew, going for the win, Someone the World Forgot, and lovewords for reviewing! Your comments mean a lot to me.**

**Love y'all,**

**~ClaceMaxericaSizzy**


	4. Chapter 4- Partners

**Disclaimer: So far, my name isn't Kiera Cass, so I DONT OWN ANY OF THE CHARACTERS. Well, except for Wesley Ail, Yolanda Bell, Jordan Bidler, Cat Darwin, Harley Dire, Henry Flance... Yup! (I'm realllllyyyy bad at making names...) Thanks for commenting and reviewing! Do you want me to reply to your reviews? I can if you want to!**

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**Chapter 4: Partners**

**AMERICA POV:**

Celeste and I became really good friends after her situation despite our caste difference. We talked about our favorite singers, and I even sang to her a little.

And plus, it turns out that Celeste, Marlee, and I had gym together. So after first period ended, we all walked towards the women's locker room.

I swung one arm on Marlee, and the other on Celeste.

"America, how was class?" Marlee asked me. Celeste and I shared a look.

"Uh, well I got into a fight with Aspen, and he knocked me out so I decided to skip." I chose not to say the part with Maxon because of what happened with Celeste.

"Oh that son of a bitch, he's gonna get it." Marlee said.

"Sooo," as I tried to lure the angry girl the subject, "Are we still on for shopping on Saturday?"

"Totally America! Wait, Celeste, do you want to come with us to buy clothes?"

"Oh my gosh! Yes! No offense America, but you need to update your closet. But don't you fear, Celeste is here! Oh! We go dress shopping-" I cut off her rambling, "Why dress shopping?"

Both Marlee and Celeste's jaws dropped.

"WHAT?" They both exploded, "You forgot about the back-to-school dance that's next week, Friday!", Marlee said while Celeste stated, "Girl, we really need to update you."

Then Marlee and Celeste started talking about meeting up right before the dance to get ready.

When we got to the women's locker room, we quickly changed into our gym uniforms. Marlee and Celeste looked like they were ready with the newest edition of _Teen Gossip_, even with just a white tank top and blue shorts, but on me, the outfit made me look like an American Flag. I can't wait until they hang me up on the flag pole.

When we arrive at the gym, I see there are 10 balls lined up across the center of the floor. There were one boxon each end of the gym, with the boxes containing blue or red jerseys. A medic kit was ready to go.

"Dodgeball" I muttered as I swung my head in between my legs to tie my head into a high ponytail. I honestly didn't get why we were supposed play sports when are almost guaranteed to get injured. Then again, there wouldn't be any sports if they followed that rule.

_Last Year_

_Swimming: I dove off the diving board and hit the water belly first. I later had a big red mark going along my belly._

_Tennis: I did a fore handed swing, hitting the ball, and also hit my head with the racket. I got a large bump on my forehead._

_Rope climbing: I made it to the top of the rope. Yay. I __slid__ down the rope. At the end, I had rope burns on my hand._

_Basketball: I stood under the hoop, trying to block the ball. I later noticed it was a bad idea when the ball came crashing down my head._

_Gymnastics: I was in down dog position. I set my right foot in front of me, but it slipped, making me to the splits. I pulled my hammy._

Now that I think about it, I think the medic kit was for me.

We got separated into two teams, red and blue. Drawing from a bucket, I got red team, while Marlee and Celeste both got blue team.

I put on the red jersey. Now I really look like an American flag.

The coach blew the whistle. War has started.

Here is my version of playing dodge ball: hide behind buff dudes until you are the last one on the field. I stepped behind buff dude #1. He gets shot down.

It was a pretty even match. I kept on hiding behind buff dudes, and they get hit. All until there were only two other people on the field.

Me and a blond. Then blond decided to lift his head. And to my luck, it was Maxon. Ugh! I have those annoying clichés where the last two people on the battlefield are enemies.

But I refuse to lose to him. So I summoned my evilness. I held my head and pinched my arms and willed my eyes to produce some tears. I bent down to my knees while collected a ball in the process. I made a moan and made some complaints about my head hurting, He came rushing to me.

Bad idea Maxon.

"Are you oka-" _CLUNK. _I used all of my muscle to chuck the dodge ball at his head.

I noticed I had very bad aiming, and hit him where the sun don't shine. And he groaned in agony in response. And I stuck out my tongue in response. Ahh the refreshing feeling of winning. I ran to my friends to shield myself from all the attention, the clapping, and the smiles.

"Oh my gosh America! Did you mean to do that? You almost took away his manhood!" Celeste said to me with a grin.

"I tired to aim at his head... But I guess my aiming is really bad." I said with a smirk. I looked over my shoulder where almost all the girls were fake sobbing around Maxon and saying how sorry they were for him.

The bell rang and we went to the women's room to change into our clothes. But of course, the Maxon girl fan club had to interrupt.

"You eight! You have no right to hit him with a ball at his balls! Did you see how pained he was?" A two I think named Kriss scolded me. She was wearing a shirt that was reaallllly low cut, shorts that seriously looked like underwear and I was surprised that she still fit in the dress code.

"I'm sorry, I gotta do what I gotta do." I said with a shrug.

"You slut! You are just trying to get his attention, so you can get him to sleep with you!" Kriss retorted.

I was taken back by her bitchiness. Luckily, Celeste and Marlee stepped in.

"She is not a slut! You are one! Your shirt alone is screaming, 'Sleep with me!' And I don't even want to talk about your too-short pants, or should I say underwear?"

Kriss and her fellow Maxon fangirl's jaws dropped. With a "Humph" they turned around and walked away.

"Thanks guys, I owe you." I said to the fuming girls.

They calmed down and Celeste said, "Nah, it's fine. I dealt with worse." While Marlee said, "Anything to help my BFFL!"

"Okay! So I'll see you at lunch!" I said as we walked to our classes.

~Maxerica~Page Break~ Maxerica~Page Break~Maxerica~Page Break~Maxerica~

AP Math. I have no idea how I got into AP side of math, but I reckon it is just luck. I took a seat in the back where no one could notice me and pulled out the heavy textbook out of my purple and heavy backpack. I got a head start reading some random chapters and got so distracted that I didn't notice any of the students came in, or the teacher, until the teacher said (more like yelled):

"HI MY NAME IS SYLVIA ELBURY. YOU CAN CALL ME MS. ELBURY. I WILL BE YOUR TEACHER FOR AP MATH."

I attempted to listen and this is what I got.

"Because the line is tangent to the circle, the line is tangerines with bananas which form parabolic curves and the blah with the y=mx+bees. Therefore you can use sign theta. Remember sine/cosine is equal to tangerines, but don't forget the bananas and bees. You add them together to form beenanas. So to find the area, use shoelaces, and the shoelace theorems and root that with the beenanas..."

I understood thirty percent of that. Note the word attempted.

Unconsciously, my hands started to tap the rhythm of many piano songs. Next to me this annoyed noise muttered:

"Stop that would ya?" I uttered a 'sure whatever'.

I stopped tapping on the desk and again tried to focus on the teacher.

"Okay, I will be assigning a partner project about trigonometry. Wesley Ail with Yolanda Bell, Jordan Bidler and Cat Darwin, Harley Dire with Henry Flance ... America Singer with..."

"Maxon Shreave." Curse my luck.

He turned to me and gave a flirtatious smile and a wink. I gave him a glare and the middle finger. I mouthed 'f u'

He just shrugged.

The rest of the class I concentrated extremely hard, trying to get a good grade, but throughout the class I can feel Maxon's eyes on me.

The bell rang and I rushed out the door to avoid any other contact with Maxon.

PAGE BREAK

I walked to the lunch room and saw Marlee and Celeste on the way to the lunch room. I walked the remainder of the distance with them.

"So which shops are we going to visit on our little shopping date on Saturday?" Celeste asked.

"Well, I was thinking to update America's closet, we would visit Forever Illea, then Illea eagle..." Marlee listed, "Oh yeah! Also for the dresses I think we should shop at a shop named Maids."

"Oh my gosh I love the store Maids! Lucy, Mary, and Anne are so good at making custom dresses!" Celeste exclaimed.

We went on talking about our shopping trip until we arrived at the lunch room.

We chose a place in the corner of the room, where we were right next to a lot of windows and we sat down together, talking about our dance and who we were going with. Obviously, Carter is going with Marlee, and Celeste and I were going as single and ready to mingle. Marlee, Celeste and I all laughed for a long time about this, and I think I even let out a little snort. Ah, so funny until Maxon interrupted with a tap of my shoulder and cleared his throat.

Rude, much?

"Hey America! Want to hang out some time for our project?" Maxon said to me while attracting the attention of many other females in the room, causing them to glower at me.

"Uh can I talk to you about this later?" I said nervously.

"Why? You want some private time with Maxon?" He said with a smirk that I wanted to slap off his face.

"Uh no thank you. I just want to get away from all the girls who are currently glaring at me, thank you very much. And plus, not everyone wants to spend private time with you man-wh***."

I just served him. And if I had enough guts, I would have kneed him. Again.

And his reaction?

"I like feisty girls in bed America." And he gave me a wink.

And he walked away.

I kneed the table and clenched and unclenched my fists. He angered me so much. Then, I uttered a line of rapid fire swearing.

"So, what's up?" Marlee said awkwardly.

I counted to ten and breathed in and out before responding. I told both Marlee and Celeste what happened in math.

"Hey honey! It will be fine!" Celeste replied.

I raised an eyebrow.

"Eh you are right. This situation does suck."

Then I saw a brown haired person come over to me. It was my favorite person, Kriss. Yay. She was walking toward me with her hips swaying and her blood-red lipstick covered mouth was in a growl.

"You stay away from Maxon, he's mine." Kriss growled at me.

"Yup! He is all yours. You and your little sex-toys these days." I mock sighed. Celeste and Marlee held in sniggers but failed horrendously, making these constipated noises.

"You... You bitch!" Then she slapped my face. I could feel the bruise forming on my face. A gasp echoed throughout the lunch room, and then Maxon came rushing toward us.

Oh great, him again.

"Maxon! Oh, baby, that filthy eight called me a slut. Tell her she is wrong." Kriss fake sobbed while clutching on to Maxon's arm.

In the background, I could hear Marlee mutter: "Nope, she is absolutely correct. Slut." Then, that followed with Celeste making more constipated noises.

"America are you okay? Kriss, please let go of my arm." Maxon ordered.

Kriss then made a "puppy dog face" then trotted back to her clowns *cough, sorry* friends.

"Dear, are you okay?"

Wow. He just crossed the line of being acquaintances. Are you serious? I had to make things clear with him.

I mustered a fake grin, making my eyes squint and dimples all over my face.

"Number one, thank you so very much! Number two, I didn't need your help. Number three, if you call me dear again, I will personally make you into a woman."

His reaction?

He gave me a fake salute.

After lunch, I went to Maxon again, with all of my earlier emotions removed from my face. With the cheeriest voice I could muster, I said to him, "How about we meet at your house on Sunday, 1 o'clock?"

A smile appeared on his face, "yeah sure! I'm sorry about my earlier words."

"It's okay, how about we just start over and ignore all my attempts to hit your manhood and thigh." I said.

"Thigh." He said while making air quotes.

"I hit your thigh!"

"Oh, please. A man doesn't need that long to recover from a knee to the thigh"

**(AN: Excerpt From: Kiera, Cass)**

Maxon and I laughed and we both calmed down.

"So Sunday?" Maxon said to me.

"Yup! See you!"

Maxon PoV

I shouldn't have ate lunch with my buddies today.

I was too unfocused.

Why?

America.

I look over to her table seeing her laugh with her friends. Her blue eyes glittered like falling snow, contrasting her red, fiery hair. Her cute little dimples under her eyes make her so interesting to look at. The way her nose arches goes along just right with her delicate cheekbones.

"Don't you agree?"

"Yeah," I said dreamily.

"So you think I should go twerk on the table to get hottie table's attention?"

"Yeah," the world still out of focus.

"Okay, if you say so."

"Yeah bud. Beautiful," I said lazily.

My friend climbs up on the table, stepping on my burrito and gets into twerking position.

"WHAT THE HELLISH HELL? YOU SMUSHED MY POOR BURRITO!"

"Sorry man that was the only way I could get your soul back to Earth."

"Yeah dude, you looked like you were in My Little Pony world."

We all cracked up.

I let my vision slip back to America's table, only to find out that a browned hair girl named Krest (?) Kristen (?) Kriss (?) block my vision.

And she slapped her.

And America looked angry.

And I sprinted there.

All I could see was red that time. Brown hair girl locked onto my arm and whined a bunch of crap.

"America are you okay? Kriss, please let go of my arm." I ordered.

I looked at America again, this time, America having a cheesy grin.

Then she told me about something about valuing my balls.

~Page Break~

After eating the non-smushed part of my burrito, the lunch bell rang and I felt a tap on my shoulder. I turned to see America with her red hair and all.

"How about we meet at your house on Sunday, 1 o'clock?"

I smiled "Yeah sure! I'm sorry about my earlier words."

"It's okay, how about we just start over and ignore all my attempts to hit your manhood and thigh."

"Yeah right, 'thigh'." I said, while making air quotes.

"I hit your thigh!"

"Oh, please. A man doesn't need that long to recover from a knee to the thigh."

"So Sunday?"

"Yup. See you!"

**••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••**

**So America is finally warming up to Maxon!**

**And Maxon is going to Target (or Safeway, Fred Meyer, Costco) to get some state of the art new and improved platinum pants! (To shield it up when America gets angry).**

**Thank you for all the reviewers! I appreciate constructive criticism (no flames) so I can make my story more enjoyable for you readers!**

**See you next time!**

**ClaceMaxericaSizzy**


	5. Chapter 5- Shopping and Surprises

**Chapter 5: Shopping and Surprises**

**AMERICA'S POV:**

The week passed on quickly for me since Maxon and I became friends.

Wait.

Friends? Noooo. Whoops. Let me rephrase that.

I said acquaintance. Acquaintance America! Friend at most. Nothing more. Let me summarize what happened on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday.

_On Tuesday, Kriss and her minions dumped spaghetti on me and called me a slut. Aspen and his other goons punched me in the sides multiple times and turns out Celeste was a black belt in karate so she beat them up right after. Maxon and I talked a little on our project, it turns out sometimes he's pretty nice_

_Wednesday: In Gym, I was chosen to be a team captain since I was the last one on the gym floor last time. Aspen was the other team captain. I wonnnn! *Does a victory dance* then Aspen punched my face for "making him look like a wimp."_

_Thursday: Homework._

_Friday: Wow! 5 out of my 7 periods had a surprise pop quiz! Yay. Probably ended up flunking every single one of them except for art and music. Aspen and Kriss both called me a bitch and slapped me across the face. They led me into an alleyway and beat me up for "ruining their reputation." What is this, seniors in high school? Oh wait... I forgot. We are seniors in high school. Screw it._

My face was riddled with bruises. I couldn't even find a space on my face that wasn't my normal skin tone.

Then it was Saturday. In other words, my shopping date with Marlee and Celeste. I grabbed my wallet, put some concealer to mask the bruises and quickly rushed out the door yelling out a quick "Bye!" to my family.

I drove to the mall and I met up with Celeste and Marlee right in front of Forever Illea. It turns out since Marlee's parents were the managers of the store, we got a huge discount on everything we bought.

Personally, I don't like shopping because I think it is just a waste of money when you can easily spend it on feeding your family. But since these were my friends, I decided to go with the flow.

When Celeste said that she would update my wardrobe, I didn't think that she meant my WHOLE wardrobe. She came to me with arms filled with tops, shoes, and pants for me to try on that she think will "flatter my shape" or "compliment my face." I honestly didn't understand a word about what she said about fashion. She said it was all on her and she said it would be many of the "early birthday presents" that I would have.

We ended up buying a total of 30 t shirts, 20 pairs of pants, 5 jackets, and 10 pairs of shoes. Oh, you think that was a lot? You should have seen Celeste and Marlee. They came out of the store arms filled with shopping bags and they even had to get a cart, since they had so many bags.

Might as well hire a person to carry the bags with that much money.

After that we went to The Elite Selection, where the best makeup is sold. We bought 10 tubes of lipstick, gloss, and lip liner, 2 tubes of mascara, 5 different colors of eye liner, and 50 shades of eye shadow. I bought some tubes of concealer and foundation to cover up the bruises Aspen, Kriss, and their minions gave me.

Next, we went to Illea Eagle, the same outcome was the same there- 2 hours of trying on and picking out clothes, and then either Celeste or Marlee pays for my clothes. After all that shopping, we all still didn't have a dress for the dance.

Until we went to Maids.

Ah. The horrors of shopping with to fashion obsessed friends. They all squealed when they saw Mary, Lucy, and Anne.

"What brings you guys here today?" Mary asked.

"We need dresses for an upcoming dance!" Marlee said in a bubbly tone

"I think I have something perfect for all of you guys!" Lucy said excitedly

Then, each of the maids took one of our hands, Celeste with Mary, Marlee with Anne, and I got Lucy.

Lucy made me try on a bunch of dresses. I noted a bunch of stuff.

Orange makes my face look green.

Yellow makes me look like I am wearing nothing, because my hair draws out all the color out of it.

Green clashes with my hair.

Hot pink doesn't mix with my skin.

Gray just adds to my dullness.

Purple makes me look like a ghost, drawing away all the color from my skin.

Red literally makes me look like a hot potato that's on fire.

But light Blue...

It made me look like a ice princess. Proud and cold. Unbreakable to anyone's attacks. But it did more than make me look like an ice princess. My fiery hair contrasted with the blue, and it made my skin have a glow to it. My dull eyes now looked piercing. The dress hugged my non-existent curves and exaggerated them.

My dress was a light blue one-shouldered halter, with sparkly studs going across the shoulder strap. It was flowing like chiffon down to my knees, with a sparkly silver belt hugging my waist. The dress was a gradient, from baby blue on the top going to a light blue.

Marlee's was a (yellow looked much better on her than on me) hi-lo dress. The bodice was studded. It was strapless and the dress matched her sweet and nice personality.

Celeste's dress was a black, tight fitting dress. It had a sweetheart neckline and lace crawled up from her neckline to surround her neck. The dress ended just above her knees.

"You look beautiful, America! I could just rip that dress off of you because I am so jealous!" Celeste exclaimed.

My face turned red at the compliment. I didn't get compliments much on my appearance. I really needed to cool down my cheeks before I look like I am on fire.

"Uh-h thanks, Celeste. But you look so much better than me." I muttered.

"No really! You look awesome!" Marlee and Celeste said.

After 2 more minutes of admiring ourselves in the mirror, we bought our dresses, (Marlee bought mine) we said a quick bye and a see you on Monday and hopped on our cars and drove home.

*Time Skip to Sunday*

Today was the day. The day where I meet Maxon. Ugh! Why was I so worked up on this! He is just a normal guy... Come on Ames! Cool down.

After one hour of contemplating what to wear to Maxon's house, I chose to wear my new blue lace back top with a bandeau underneath. Then I out on some dark wash skinny jeans and a leather jacket. Classy and casual at the same time.

I looked into the mirror. There were dark bruises everywhere- under my eyes, in my cheeks, and on my neck. I looked like a zombie for God's sake! Luckily, I got 20 new tubes of heavy duty concealer and foundation yesterday so I could cover them up before I met Maxon. I quickly swiped on concealer and foundation on my face until you couldn't see them anymore. I brushed on some mascara and eyeliner for good times sake.

I drove to Maxons house at 12:45 with my heart pounding in my ears, when I promptly arrived at 1:00, my jaw nearly dropped.

**MAXON'S POV: **

I woke up at 6:00, excited for today's meeting with America. I decided to wear a loose, high neckline t shirt with graphic designs that showed off my muscles decently, and some loose jeans.

I worked on the math project a little to pass the time, but it ended up slowing down time instead of speeding it up. Oh well. Time goes by when your having fun and: fun=anything other than math.

I ended up just trying on more clothes and thinking of what could happen...

_"Hey baby, if I could rearrange the alphabet, I'd put U and I together," I said with a wink. America rolled her beautiful ice blue eyes and giggled and kissed me on the cheek. But I wanted more than that. I gently fit my mouth to hers and America obliged. We kissed with more passion..._

I snapped out of my daydream when I heard a doorbell ring and two voices. It was the door opener maid and the other voice... It was angelic and pure. That voice could only be described as America. I cleaned up quickly and rushed downstairs in a orderly fashion. I quickly observed what was happening. America, my mom, and my maid laughing. I smiled on how perfect and beautiful America is. America's eyes twinkled and her smile brought one to mine. She was wearing a lace shirt and some skinny jeans. I never thought she looked even more perfect, even more perfect than all the Ones combined in the school. _Oh come on Maxon! Perfect? Beautiful? What kind of playe- OH SCREW IT! Who cares! Fine. I'll say it. I have a tiny crush on America! Tiny? Ok... Huge crush._ I mentally face palmed. I hate it when my mind argues like that!

I continued walking down the stairs, making sure that my footsteps were noticeable to America. They all stood up and my maid, Zoë curtseyed to me. I bowed my back a little to Zoë and my mom.

"Hello mom. I will be taking America upstairs for a math project. Thank you, Zoë, for working so hard. You are dismissed for the rest of the day." I said in my most formal voice.

I brought America upstairs into my bedroom and she said with a disapproving tone, "Seriously, maids?"

"Well sorry, it wasn't my idea to get maids it was my father's. Now are we going to do our math project or what?"

"Ok yeah sure!" She said back. Then she showed me her notes. And man, it was hilarious...

"I'm guessing we have to use my notes," I said with a laugh. She turned red.

"What! Don't blame me! I don't even know how I got into the AP side of math..." America said with a sigh.

We ended up finishing our project in 2 hours and we were just talking randomly after that.

"So how's your family like?" America asked.

"Well, you've met my mom, she is a model and she is the most caring person that I know of. She takes care of me when daddy isn't here, and she puts up with my mistakes. I am an only child and it kinda gets lonely sometimes. How about your family?"

"Well, my family is huge, unlike yours, Gerad, he is 6 years old, and he likes bugs. Then there is May, who is like a mini me. She is so ticklish!"

"If May is ticklish, then is America ticklish?" I thought out loud.

"Oh! No! No! Not at all!" America said quickly as I moved my hands closer to her body. When I reached her body, I tickled her.

"No! No! Sto-ooo-opp. You- I'm.. Kill.. Kick... Balls... Manhood.. You son of a... STOP!" She stuttered out. Then tears came out of her eyes.

"Oh no! America I'm so sorry!-" Then she started tickling me. First my stomach, my legs, and then my back. I winced and grunted in pain. She noticed my wince and drew her hand back. Her danity hand was covered in blood.

"Maxon..." she gasped.

**AMERICA'S POV:**

Maxon's house was huge! It was easily 7 times the size of my house and it looks like I could even get lost in this house! I stopped gaping at the house and rushed to the door.

I rang the doorbell once and I heard footsteps approaching the door. Then it opened.

The woman was in a business type outfit, with a bun and everything, "Hello! Welcome to the Shreave house! How may I help you?" She said in a over exaggerated excited tone. Wow... They even have maids? Yeesh!

"Hello! My name is America and I'm here to work on a project with Maxon," I said.

"Please tell me you are not one of the girls who he just uses for one night." She sighed.

"Oh no! Not at all! I'm one of his friends and I'm his partner for a math project."

"Friends? Maxon doesn't have lady friends. Well this is a first. Come on in! My name is Zoë and I would be delighted to serve you for the day." Zoë said as she led me through the maze of hallways.

We arrived in the living room and Zoë served me some tea. "Why don't you rest a little? You can take a little break from serving me. You are too kind to me." I said to Zoë.

She looked taken aback. "Oh sorry, Zoë, have I offended you?"

"Oh no! It's just that none of the girls that Maxon brings home have never been nice to me like how you are. Mister Maxon and Miss Amberly only have been this nice to me. Oh my gosh, I have to tell Maxon that you are a keeper." She said excitedly.

"Now who's a keeper?" A mature voice echoed through the room. A tall, beautiful, slender woman with brown hair entered the room. Zoë immediately stood up and curtseyed to her.

"Oh, Miss Amberly, Lady America has just been so kind to me for the past 5 minutes. She even offered me to rest and cared about how I felt! It's just that none of the other- let's see... 34 girls that Maxon brought home have ever been this nice to me." Zoë said to Ms. Shreave.

"Oh, really, Zoë! America, are you? So nice to meet you!" Amberly said.

"Oh it's a pleasure to meet you, Ms. Shreave! And are you that model from Illea weekly? You look so beautiful!" I said back energetically

"Oh please call me Amberly, Ms. Shreave makes me sound old!" We all laughed at that. "And yes, I am the model on Illea Weekly. And darling, you look upmost beautiful too." She said back to me.

"Thank you, Amberly! Now what did you say about the other 34 girls! Maxon and 34 girls? Are you serious Zoë?" I said. We all laughed at that.

"Well, I-" Zoë stopped talking when we all heard heavy footsteps came barreling down. Maxon, dressed up in a simple graphic t shirt and jeans came downstairs. Zoë immediately curtseyed and Maxon bowed to Zoë and his mother.

"Hello mom. I will be taking America upstairs for a math project. Thank you, Zoë, for working so hard. You are dismissed for the rest of the day." Maxon said to Zoë and Ms. Shreave.

I followed Maxon up the stairs and said to him, "Seriously, maids?"

"Well sorry, it wasn't my idea to get maids it was my father's. Now are we going to do our math project or what?" Maxon said back to me with a sigh.

"Ok yeah sure!" I said, embarrassed that I already got off track. Then I showed Maxon my notes. After a few seconds of reading, he started making these manly giggles.

"I'm guessing we have to use my notes," He said with a laugh. I blushed because I shouldn't have even showed my notes to him anyway. I said defensively, "What! Don't blame me! I don't even know how I got into the AP side of math..."

After 2 hours, we were finally done proving whatever we were supposed to prove. I started some conversation.

"So how's your family like?" I asked.

"Well, you've met my mom, she is a model and she is the most caring person that I know of. She takes care of me when daddy isn't here, and she puts up with my mistakes. I am an only child and it kinda gets lonely sometimes. How about your family?" Maxon asked.

"Well, my family is huge, unlike yours, Gerad, he is 6 years old, and he likes bugs. Then there is May, who is like a mini me. She is so ticklish!" I laughed at the thought.

"If May is ticklish, then is America ticklish?" Maxon stated in a 5-year old philosopher tone.

"Oh! No! No! Not at all!" I said quickly as his hands moved toward me. I tried swatting his hands, but they were to fast. He started tickling me.

"No! No! Sto-ooo-opp. You- **_are an idiot_**_. _I'm.. **_Going_**_**to**_Kill.. _You. __**After this I'm going to**_Kick... Balls...**_so hard that you lose your _**Manhood.. You son of a... **_Bitch _**STOP!" I tried to say. Then my evil mind thought of something. I pinched my arm and tears came out of my eyes.

"Oh no! America I'm so sorry!-" Then I started tickling him. _Mwahahahahah! The sweet taste of revenge!_ I tickled his stomach and saw a tattoo on his back? The tattoo looked pretty cool. then I moved downward (no not that downward, pervs) and ticked his legs. I moved to tickling his back and I heard a grunt. I drew back my hand and saw it covered in blood

"Maxon..." I gasped.

It wasn't a tattoo. It was a gash.

••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

**Am I good at writing cliffhangers? Mwahahahha!11!**

**Eh.**

**Now here are the replies to the review to Chapter 4:**

**lillythemermaid: Sorry! I didn't know that! I changed the first chapter to:**

**1st Period- History with Ms. Nicoletta Gray**

**2nd Period- Gym with Mr. August Cebrick**

**3rd Period- AP Math with Ms. Sylvia Elbury**

**Lunch**

**4th Period- Language Arts with Ms. Olivia Walters**

**5th Period- AP Chemistry with Ms. Zoe Drew**

**6th Period- Music with Ms. Natalie Somers**

**7th Period- Art with Ms. Anna Farmer**

**I also love your story, Tug Your Ear! You are an awesome writer (way better than me****?****)**

**lovewords: Thanks so much! I love your stories too!**

**going for the win: thanks! Your stories are so awesome!**

**Someone the World Forgot: haha. Thanks. I didn't like Kriss too much because she interrupted Maxerica... (Sorry KrissxMaxon shippers) I read your story and I love them so much!**

**Do you want me to continue replying? Yes? No?**

**Thanks for following and reviewing!**

**Thanks for reading!**

**-ClaceMaxercaSizzy**


	6. Chapter 6- Ouch

**Disclaimer: Kiera Cass owns the Selection Trilogy. Not me... *cries and sobs in a corner* jk! I hope you like this chapter!**

**Chapter 6: Ouch…**

**MAXON POV:**

"Maxon, what is this?" America said. I grunted in pain in response.

"You...can't...tell... anyone" I took deep breathes to control my pain. I slowly took off my shirt carefully so it won't hurt as much. America saw what I was doing and tried to help with me. When I took off my shirt, she gasped at the sight.

"What? Are you surprised at how muscular I am?" I tired to joke around and lighten the mood

"Shhh... This is serious! Who did this to you? Wait, don't talk yet. Let me get you some bandages," America said to me a hushed tone. She went out the door and came back with arms filled with bandages, antiseptics, and a towel.

She walked to the bathroom and soaked the towel in water. She then came over to me and whispered in my ear, "This may hurt a little, try not to make any noises." Her breath in my ear gave me shivers and I immediately calmed down. When she touched the towel to my back I hissed in pain, but then she touched a comforting hand to my shoulder, telling me to relax. When she was done, she grabbed the antiseptics and dipped her hand in the salve. When she leaned down, her intoxicating smell of vanilla engulfed my lungs. I silently compared her to all the other girls and was amazed on how different she was. All the other girls would cake their face in makeup and jewelry, and their strong smell of perfume always made me think that I would rather smell a skunk than them. America would wear none to very little makeup, and her natural, soft scent of vanilla always relaxed me. I was so in my thoughts that I didn't realize America was calling my name.

"Maxon! Are you there? You need to sit up so I can bandage your back." I listened to her and sat up. She put her warm and soft hands on my back and wrapped the bandages around my chest and back. When she finished she said, "Maxon, tell me what happened."

"My father did this. Since he is the CEO of the company, Illea Weekly, he has been training me so that when he dies, I can take over. But this means a strict curfew, tons of extra homework, and if I break any of his rules, I will get a whipping. And yesterday, I was 'playing stupid' with the financial data and since I protested against him, he gave me 10 lashes. I you're wondering why I am this player, as people would say, it is because of my dad." I explained to her.

"But that's wrong! Does your mom know?" America gasped.

"No, my mom doesn't know. I don't want her to bear my pain." I explained while trying to put on shirt. America realized what I was trying to do and reached out to help me. After a few minutes of inspecting my back to see if my scars were covered, America's phone rang. She picked up and said something to the other end, and hung up. She said to me, "I have to go now. Make sure you don't get into anymore trouble with your father. I had an interesting time here and I'll see you tomorrow at school, Maxon."

"Okay. Let me take you out the door, America." I said back to her.

When I opened the door, it was downright pouring outside. America walked outside and turned to say bye to me. I gasped at her face. It was purplish blue, and I felt a pang of anger course through me. Who would do such a thing? And how couldn't have I noticed?

America was apparently wearing makeup to cover her bruises. But then the rainwater washed it away. America looked at my shocked expression and asked me, "Maxon! Is something wrong?"

"Bruises" was all I said. America touched her face and looked down at her hand was covered in makeup. She tried to run away but I grabbed her arm and jerked here toward me. Our faces were centimeters apart and our noses were touching. We were sharing heavy breaths.

"Who did this to you?" I was genuinely concerned for her. Anyone who would beat up America would have to face me.

"Aspen and Kriss" she barely said above a whisper, "but please don't hurt them. They will only bully me more, please don't, i don't want you to get in trouble-" I cut off her rambling off by clamping a hand to her face, and positioning her so that her back was to my chest.

We stayed like that for a while, just listening to our heavy breaths and the rain pattering on the driveway. After a while, I said, "No one has the right to hurt you, America. Honestly, I think you are the most beautiful person in the world and no one has the right to hurt you. As a friend, I will protect you from Kriss and Aspen. Before you go home, let me put some healing lotion on your face and get you dried off. Why don't you come back in?"

So we went back upstairs into my bedroom and I patted the bed, signaling America to sit there. I went into the bathroom and got out some cream and I walked back to the bedroom.

I kneeled in front of her and started applying the cream on her face. When I was done, I kissed the top of her head and she said, "Thank you Maxon, thank you for being such a good person to me. You are sweet, kind, and funny, and I really think that you are going to be the best friend ever."

FRIEND? What is this stuff about friends? I just kissed her head! Doesn't that mean something more than just friend? More like friend with benefits or boyfriend! She just friend-zoned me bad... Oh wait, I called her my friend when I invited her in. Stupid Maxon! You should've said boyfriend! I just friend-zoned us! Ugh. I snapped out of my mental argument and said, "Okay, I'll see you tomorrow. Try not to get hurt." She kissed me on the cheek, and said a quick bye.

Then she walked out of my room, waved a hand at me, and drove back to her house.

I was still in the same position that America left me after 30 minutes, thinking, SHE KISSED ME ON THE CHEEK! AHHHHH! Ugh, stupid guy hormones.

*Time skip to Monday*

**AMERICA POV:**

The week of the dance.

And it's also spirit week. Today being P.J. Day.

This means that I can stay in my bed longer. Yay.

*10 minutes later*

Snore.

*30 minutes later*

I wake up to the sound of my ringtone of ducks quacking, I quickly dunk my face in concealer, grab a bagel and sprint out of the door not caring that my hair is like a birds nest, and that I am wearing my pajamas backwards.

It's PJ day! Who cares? I'll deal with the consequences later.

When I am at my history class (40 minutes late), I just sit there for 10 minutes, not knowing what is going on.

Then the bell rings. Class out.

When I am at my gym class with Mr. Cebrick, most of the time I spent knocked out from a baseball.(Sent from Aspen, with love, obviously).

When class ends, both Celeste and Marlee literally lug me out of class and plop me into AP Math.

Yup. AP math. Now it's time for me and Maxon to present the project. Honestly, I didn't know how I felt for Maxon. I really wish that he would ask me to the dance, but then again, he is still a player. He could just be playing me. When helped me so much with the bruises, he called me a friend, but then he kissed me on the head. WHY IS LIFE SO HARD?!

The whole class looked at me.

Whoops. I may have said that out loud.

I made eye contact with Maxon. He mouthed 'are you okay?'

Even with that little interaction makes my heart flutter.

I nodded back to him. I managed a weak smile and mouthed back 'just nervous for the presentation.

'You'll be okay' mouthed back, and smiled.

He looks hawt with that smile.

"Okay, time for presentations! Who would like to go first?" Ms. Elbury asked.

Maxon shot his hand up.

And I face palmed. Didn't I just tell was nervous for the presentation?! Gah.

"Maxon and America, why don't you come up and show your solution for the project?"

I hesitantly walked up the front of the classroom with Maxon, and he took my hand and squeezed it for reassurance.

My heart rate jumped up ten fold.

And I started talking.

"We got assigned the problem with the hexagon and the goat tied to a rope..."

For the rest of the presentation, it was like I was only talking to Maxon, with no other people in the room.

I quickly realized that I was falling for him.

Just him and me.

We ended the presentation with a applause and a smile from the teacher. I smiled slyly and Maxon gave a mock bow.

After class, I walk to lunch with Marlee and Celeste. Apparently, Celeste got asked to the dance by a "hot surfer dude with hot hair and hot abs and hot six pack and hot eyes" and she can't stop squealing with Marlee.

"Hey look who's talking to the slut!" Marlee points out.

Yup. We see Maxon talking to Kriss, and apparently Kriss seems really happy.

"Eh. Who cares about bitches! Let's go! I'm starving!" Celeste replies.

We sprint to the lunchroom and grab today's mystery meat hamburger. I heard that they bounce. We kept on chatting until Kriss walked up to our table.

"Girl. You ought to stop visiting us. I think last time we made it certain that we don't like you here." Marlee said annoyingly.

"Sorry," Kriss replied with a nasally tone,"I have to talk to America about Maxon."

"I'm right here. So talk."

"I'm here to inform you that Maxon asked me to the dance. So please stay away from him. He is mine."

Well there goes my wish for Maxon asking me to the dance.

And what's with people saying that people are theirs?! For the last time, there isn't slavery!

"I really don't care about your matters with Maxon, Kriss. Why don't you boast about that to your clownish friends." I retorted.

Kriss made a ugly smirk and skipped back to her table.

Inside, I was heartbroken. But Maxon is a player. He broke Celeste's heart, and he is probably going to do it to every single girl.

"Whatever, who cares about them? Lets just all go to the dance together!"

I managed a smile and dumped my trash away. We kept on talking about the dance until class was about to start again. I tried to avoid Maxon as much as possible.

All through language arts we discussed our lit circle book. The only thing I enjoyed about class was that the teacher fell asleep on his desk so instead of discussing, everybody started doing random stuff. Aspen cornered me and beat me up.

Man, I wish the teacher wasn't sleeping

I ran to the bathroom and quickly covered up the purplish black bruises and dabbed the bloody lip, and stayed there until it was time for AP Chemistry

AP Chem was the most boring class ever. Well, except the fact that I was partners with this really hot guy named Adam:

"Hello class, we will be assigning a partner project," Ms. Drew said to the class.

"Jerry Sofers and Rachel Tolist, America Singer and Adam Parker."

I looked around, and I finally found a pair of eyes that were searching for me. I raised a thumbs up and he winked at me.

The bell rang, and we walked outside together.

"Hello! My name is America Singer."

"I kinda already knew that..."

"Right sorry! Brain fart."

"Haaha. I always have brain farts, once I had one so bad that I forgot my name." He said while scratching the back of his head.

I laughed so hard that he joined him with me.

"So Sunday at one?" Adam asked me. Whoa! Déjà Vu much!

"Ya sure!"

And they didn't notice the pair of eyes watching them.

~Page Break~

I guess the principal hates me, because Maxon is in my Music class.

Grr.

I try not to make eye contact with Maxon as he walks in, by turning my head to the window.

Our music teacher, Ms. Somers made all of us sing a song we know by heart. When she asked for an volunteer, the class was silent, and crickets were chirping. I think teachers will know by know that if you ask for a volunteer, you are just wasting time! Just force someone to go up there!

After 20 seconds of awkward silence, I decided to raise my hand. Ms. Somers immediately called on me and I heard little mutters like, "Teachers pet" and "nerd." I chose to ignore the whispers and marched up on to the stage. I walked up to the mic and said, "Hello, I am America Singer and I will be singing Almost is Never enough by Ariana Grande. Once they figured out the background music to the song, they played the disk and I started singing:

_I'd like to say we gave it a try_

_I'd like to blame it all on life_

_Maybe we just weren't right,_

_But that's a lie,_

_That's a lie_

_And we can deny it as much as we want_

_But in time our feelings will show_

_'Cause sooner or later, we'll wonder why we gave up_

_The truth is everyone knows_

_Almost_

_Almost is never enough_

_So close to being in love_

_If I would have known that you wanted me_

_The way I wanted you_

_Then maybe we wouldn't be two worlds apart_

_But right here in each others arms_

_And we almost_

_We almost knew what love was_

_But almost is never enough_

_If I could change the world overnight_

_There'd be no such thing as goodbye_

_You'll be standing right where you were_

_And we'd get the chance we deserve_

_Try to deny it as much as you want_

_But in time our feelings will show_

_'Cause sooner or later, we'll wonder why we gave up_

_The truth is everyone knows_

_Almost_

_Almost is never enough_

_So close to being in love_

_If I would have known that you wanted me_

_The way I wanted you, oh_

_Then maybe we wouldn't be two worlds apart_

_But right here in each others arms_

_And we almost_

_We almost knew what love was_

_But almost is never enough_

_(Huh) oh, huh oh_

_(Oh baby) hmm_

_(You know) oh_

_(You know baby)_

_(Almost)_

_Baby baby baby (is not enough baby)_

_(You know) huh huh_

_(Huh yeah)_

_And we ca deny it as much as we want_

_But in time our feelings will show_

_'Cause sooner or later, we'll wonder why we gave up_

_The truth is everyone knows_

_Almost_

_Almost is never enough (is never in enough babe)_

_(We were) so close to being in love (So close)_

_If I would have known that you wanted me (that you wanted me)_

_The way I wanted you, babe_

_Then maybe we wouldn't be two worlds apart_

_But right here in each others arms_

_And we we almost_

_We almost knew what love was (baby)_

_But almost is never enough_

_(Huh)_

_(Oh baby) almost_

_(You know) hey_

_(You know baby)_

_Almost_

I poured all my thoughts about Maxon and how he broke my heart without even knowing. I even leaked a tear or two out of the corner of my eye. After when I finished, a smattering round of applause sounded around me. I quickly left the stage and sat back in the audience. Ms. Somers said to the class, "That was absolutely wonderful America, your breaths were quiet but strong and the variation of your loudness was at the correct parts! Now who's next!" A tentative hand went up in the audience, and I recognized it as Maxon.

"Great, Mr. Shreave, you may go," the teacher said to him.

He walked up the stage with swag and upmost confidence in his walk. He jeered into the microphone, " Heeeellooo! My name is Maxon Shreave, and I will be singing Classic, by MTKO."

He started singing, and I was amazed on how goo- NO. STOP IT RIGHT NOW AMERICA. THAT BASTARD BROKE YOUR HEART. THERE IS NOTHING GOOD ABOUT HIM.

_Ooh girl you're shining,_

_Like a fifth avenue diamond,_

He winked at someone near me, probably behind me. I looked behind me and saw Kriss, waving a sultry hand back.

I felt my heart break into little tiny pieces again and before I knew it, hot tears were burning on the back of my eyes. I ran out of the classroom, heard a yell, and ran into the school garden.

**MAXON POV: (right after America's AP chem)**

After my AP politics, I went straight to the chemistry room, knowing that America would be there, so I could walk with her to the music room. But my heart broke when I saw America laughing with Adam, a 3 who was a genius and was very nice.

"So Sunday at one?" WHAT. THE. HELL. IS. HAPPENING. Sunday at one was our time! And since when were they a couple? My heart broke slightly at the thought. Man, I got some competition. I ran to the bathroom and waited there a little until I heard the late bell ring. I pranced into class, hoping America would look at me, but she kept her head turned to the window.

"For your first assignment, I am asking you to sing a song that you know by heart. So any volunteers to go first?" No one raised their hands until a tentative hand raised up.

"Ms. Singer! Great! Why don't you introduce yourself and the song that you are going to sing?"

Immediately mutters like "teachers pet" echoed through the room. I looked over at America, her face calm and cold. She walked up the stairs with confidence and said meekly into the microphone, "Hello, I am America Singer and I will be singing Almost is Never enough by Ariana Grande."

Once she started singing, a wave of heat washed over me. Was she singing this song to me? Why would she be singing this to me?

After when she was done singing, I clapped as loud as I could and the teacher called out some comments, then asked for another volunteer. I quickly raised my hand and pranced onto stage.

"Hello! I'm Maxon and I will be singing Classic by MTKO."

_Ooh girl you're shinin'_

_Like a fifth avenue diamond._

I winked at America and the person behind her, Kriss waved and blew kisses to me. America turned around to see Kriss giving a wave to me, paused and closed her eyes. She blended in with the crowd, and I saw her run out the front door.

"America!" I yelled into the microphone. I rushed off stage and flew out the front door. I saw a flash of red, and I suddenly found myself in the gardens, looking at the girl of my dreams, sobbing into her knees, next to a bench.

**Uh oh... What just happened?**

**Replies from chapter 5:**

**going for the win: I'm not really good at comebacks or jokes, so I just binged it up… YUP!**

**Kiren (Someone the World Forgot):****I made Celeste a black belt, who knows? Maybe ill make Marlee a secret spy of the CIA? Jk… (Im bad at jokes…) And yeah, Clace is clary and jace, but that isn't my OTP. My OTP is Maxerica. Always! And Sizzy is Simon and Isabelle (if you were wondering)**

**Lillythemermaid: Thanks! I like reading different versions of the one. And your story is one of my favs!**

**Theselectedwriter: I'm glad you like my story!**

**Theoneforever: OK! BTW… love your username.**

**D12td4eva: Thanks for giving me constructive criticism! I will definitely consider that! **

**SweetCarolina87: YUP! Im just trying to make some connections to the Selection.**

**Taylor: YYYYEEEESSSS! (to you too!)**

**Lovewords: I just love a good Fourtris story! **

**Well there you have it! Chapter 6! I hope you liked it and please review!**

**Do you know, I was tempted to name this chapter Chapter 6: Chapter 6.**

**DON"T BLAME ME! I couldn't think of a good name! **


	7. Chapter 7- Scars and Bruises

**Disclaimer: Sadly, I don't own selection. If I did, Aspen would be dead by now and Maxon and America would already have 5 Maxerica babies! By the way, a heads up: sorry for the extreme cheesiness in this chapter.**

**Chapter 7: Scars and Bruises (THAT DOESNT SOUND GOOD...)**

**Maxon PoV:**

"America?"

No reply. I scanned the area. In front of me, I see a beautiful garden. All sorts of different flowers, bushes and trees. I actually never knew there was a garden in this school.

Why was she acting like this? Is it because of the thingy that happens every month or so? Wait. I know what it's called. This got drilled into my brain from my health teacher. Hashtag? No. Exclamation? Nope. Asterisk? Maybe…PERIOD! Oh yeah! That's what it's called!

Awkward…

Anyways…

I see a person sitting on a bench, knees curled up, sobbing. It was America. My poor angelic beauty.

I walk up to her and hug her in my arms. She tenses but then melts in my arms and continues sobbing.

"What happened, America?" I asked her.

No response. I hate seeing her like this. Who hurt her until the point that she cries?

"America, please. You helped me with my problems, and now I want to help you with yours," I said gently to her.

"YOU'RE MY PROBLEM!" She yelled at me. **(*singing Problem by Ariana Grande in the background* heheh. Sorry for the interruption... Continue!)**

"What? Please tell me what I did." I was shocked. I was the one who hurt her?

"You are sometimes so bipolar. One day you actually look like you care for me, and the other you just throw me in the trash like how you did with the other 34 girls you used." She sobbed to her knees.

"Honestly America, you are one of the people I care for most," I spilled out my deepest secret.

"Lies!" She yelled at my face. Even with her swollen red eyes, she still looked beautiful.

"No! It's the truth! How can I get you to believe me?" I pleaded.

"Nothing, because I know that you are lying." She snapped.

"If nothing will, maybe this will work." I fit my mouth to hers. She froze and then melted into the kiss. She tasted like mint and vanilla. I ended the kiss and said, "America, you are the most beautiful girl in the world, and I care for you very much, and," I rubbed my hands together and got a blue bracelet I got from the jeweler out of my pocket, "will you go to the dance with me?"

**(A/N When my sister read this, she was laughing so loud and saying it was too much like a proposal... Sorry if it was too cheesy...)**

"But aren't you going to the dance with Kriss?" She asked me. Huh? Kriss told America that she got asked to the dance by me? Ohh... Maybe that's why she was so sad.

"No... Did she tell you that?" I asked her.

"Yes," she said with a sigh.

"Well then she's a liar and I do want to go to the dance with you. So... Um... Yes or No?" I said nervously.

"Yes of course!" She threw her hands around my head and kissed me on the cheek. I was doing a mental victory dance in my head.

"So, what's with you and Adam this Sunday?"

She just stared at me.

"What?"

"I overheard you talking to him when I was walking to my next class."

"Stalker,"she punched me in the arm. "No, it was just a project."

"Good. I want to all to myself." I pressed her back into my chest. I felt both of our hearts beating wildly. We stayed like that, sitting on the bench cuddling until the bell rang.

PAGE BREAK PAGE BREAK PAGE BREAK

**AMERICA'S POV:**

Oh my god. Oh my god. I was going to the dance with Maxon! Sometimes he just is a total ass, but the rest of the time he is such a nice person, so caring and handsome, so cu-

" ! I will not have you day dreaming I my class!" Ms. Farmer, my art teacher snapped me out of my thoughts. My cheeks turned scarlet while other kids snickered behind my back.

"I'm sorry , I was done with my project." It was true! gave us a project of using oil paints to paint a picture of a problem in the world. I drew a picture of a bruised girl looking in a rippled lake, and with every ripple, her face clearing up of the bruises until it was like porcelain. She came over to look at my picture and gasped.

"Wow! America this is great!" I guess I inherited my parent's abilities.

"Thank you Ms. Farmer." I murmured, my cheeks once again flaring up because of the compliment.

"Since you are done, why don't you try drawing another picture?" She asked me.

"Okay. Can I have another canvas?"

Ms. Farmer brought me another canvas and I started drawing a scarred boy getting both arms pulled by the angel and the devil. I didn't get to finish because the bell rang signaling the end of the day. Everyone exited to go to their after school activities, but I packed up slowly since I didn't have any. I felt someone tap my shoulder. I turned around and saw my least favorite girl in the world.

"Hey America!" Kriss said in a cheerful tone. Once I thought that maybe she was going to be nice for once, she growled, "What did you do with my Maxon?" Yup! There's the real Kriss. Owning guys for her *cough cough* needs.

"I didn't do anything to YOUR Maxon!" I snorted. Seriously? Kriss, you don't own Maxon for goodness sakes!

"What did you do to Maxon after he ran out the door in Music class, you slut?" Kriss pressured me. I was crashing under her threats of hitting me again, but again, my mouth doesn't really have a filter on what I'm going to say.

"Oh, you calling me a slut, huh? I bet you slept with more boys than everyone in the school combined! Also, may I borrow your 'shirt', I have to donate it to my three year old cousin." I retorted.

"YOU BITCH!" She slapped my face and raked the side of my face with her sharp, manicured nails.

I ran away from the classroom, only to get myself in deeper trouble. In front of me, Aspen has his fist raised ready to beat me up. I tried to run away, but before I could register anything, Aspen has me down to the ground. I feel pain on my back, my lower torso and my head (which is basically everywhere).

"You really think that you can beat me, I'm the best on the swim team." He laughed.

"Ha. You really are a useless rag doll without anyone."He kicks me in the ribs.

"This is for beating me in dodgeball."He kicks me again, but only harder.

"This is for being a bitch."He pulls me up and knees me in the stomach. I fall to the ground.

"This is for you being a slut."And punches me in the face.

Aspen keeps on hitting me for every reason he has against me. He does this until I close my eyes, and this makes him drag me out into a corner. He sets me in the corner and repeatedly keeps on kicking me, over and over. He stops until he hears a scream, and sprints away from the scene. Marlee and Celeste give me a hand and I reach out but I am too tired. The last thing I hear is Marlee yelling to call an ambulance.

~Page Break~

I wake up in a room that smells like sterilized medicine. My body feels like its slowly burning. I sit up, but as soon as my back is at a 45 degree angle, black and yellow spots cover my vision. I fall back onto the pillow. I take a deep breath and I wince. It even hurts to breathe! I look around, and I see no one, absolutely nobody waiting for me. I guess this is what it feels like to be invisible.

Then a bunch of questions hoard my head: How long have I been here? Where am I? Did Aspen get caught? What day is it? Did I miss the dance? Are Marlee and Celeste okay?

A nurse coming in interrupted my thoughts. She looked at me like I was a walking zombie, (which I probably was) and dropped her notepad.

"Y-you're awake?"she asked cautiously. Umm…I think I am. What kind of nurse is she if she can't tell a living patient from a dead one?

Instead of voicing my thoughts, I said, "Yup! I'm pretty sure I am awake. Why do you ask?"my voice came out creaky and broken.

"Well, Doctor Jack said that you wouldn't wake up until Friday."

"I guess that I'm really resilient…"I joked, "Just two questions, what day is today and can I get a cup of water?"

"Today is Wednesday, 8 AM. Now let me get the doctor to check up on you."

I waited a few minutes for the doctor to come in. I looked in the mirror and saw a bruised and broken girl. Her face was filled with purple-bluish-yellowish-greenish bruises. Her eyes were broken. A scar came running down the side of my face, and from my right elbow to my wrist. That girl could not be me. But she was. A few tears slipped down my face. How did I deserve this kind of life? When I heard footsteps, I quickly swiped away my tears. Soon, a tall muscular man dressed in a white lab coat came in, carrying a tablet and a cup of water.

"Hello, Ms. America Singer, I am your doctor and will be checking if you are in good enough condition to check out."He handed me the cup of water.

After a few tests, like bonking my leg with a hammer, sticking a stick in my mouth, he told me that I was free to go tomorrow. Suddenly, my mom rushed in.

"America! Honey! What happened?"

"Aspen."

Her face turned from a face of happiness to a face of sorrow and pain.

She embraced me in a hug.

"I really hope you will feel better. Sorry Ames, but I have to go to work."

I nodded in understanding and watched as she left. Without mom working probably means no food. The doctor took the place of mom, checking if I was still in stable condition.

I look at the bedside table next to me. On there is a bunch of finished (?) homework and a note.

The note was from Marlee and Celeste.

_Dear America!_

_We really hope you feel better. Because you are our bestest friend, we decided to do your homework (shhh. Don't tell anyone, and don't expect to get a A). You owe us. Jk. But don't think that just because you__'__re injured, you can skip the dance. You are still going. Mwahahaha._

_Hugs and Kisses,_

_Marlee and Celeste_

_PS Call us when you wakey wakey. :-*_

_XOXXOXOXOXOXOX_

I sat there, disappointed that I didn't get any notes from Maxon. Were those words that he said to me just a show? I better just forget about that. Great. Now I have nothing to do. I grab my phone from my pocket and text both Marlee and Celeste.

America: im awake

I really don't expect them to reply, because they are at school, but I guess I was proven wrong twice.

Marlee: u o me.

Celeste: My brain is over heated because of u

America: Hello to you too.

Celeste: whoops. Hi sweety pie!

Marlee: haha lol. Mer, how are you feeling?

America: like I have been set on fire.

Celeste: OH YOU POOR BABY! Mar, I knew I should've decapitated Ass-pen!

Marlee: sorry I prevented you from getting you in jail.

Celeste: oh right. Heh. I forgot that decapitation comes with consequences.

America: anyway, shouldn't you be in class?

Celeste: yup! But the teacher is so boring. Also im sitting in the back of the class

Marlee: oh celeste, you bad gurl...

Celeste: wut! Not my problem that he is so borring…id rather do more of ames homework.

America: oh please do.

Celeste: but, above all that, I would rather gaze at the hot boy sitting in front of me…

Marlee: SCARRED FOR LIFE. CELESTE... curse you

America: speaking of hot boys, my doctor is pretty hot.

Celeste: OMG TAKE A PICTURE OF HIM

Marlee: Ooh! I wanna see!

America: Marlee, you have a boyfriend.

Marlee: I don't care! I wanna see some more eye-candy

America: Kk

I pretended I was taking a selfie, but instead I took a picture of the doctor

I sent the picture over to them and immediately got replies from them

Celeste: SOMEONE! Give me an injury!

Marlee: oohhh girll you are lucky

America: hahah…

Celeste: I gtg Ames and Mar! Class ended feel better Mer!

Marlee: ya me too. Bye yall and feel better! We all miss you!

America: Baii

As I became more bored, the drowsier I became. So I closed my eyes and drifted into sleep.

~Time Skip, because we don't want to read about how America sleeps~

I wake up to two squealing girls.

"Quiet girls. I am trying to sleep."

And they do the exact opposite,

"Where'd the bracelet come from?!"

"Did someone ask you to the dance?"

I open my eyelids only to find Marlee and Celeste pulling my bracelet arm out of my socket. In their other hands was a huge, fluffy, pink teddy bear.

"As much as you want my arm, I need it."

They dropped my arm and set the huge teddy bear on the bed to the right of me.

"Spill the beans girl."

"Maxon gave me the bracelet, and he also asked me to the dance."

Celeste gave an understanding nod and smile. Marlee looked like she was going to explode from happiness.

"You two are perfect together. But if he hurts you, I will personally bust out some black belt kung Fu on him."Celeste warned.

We all cracked up. Later, we all just talked about the dance and I forgot about all of the injuries I withheld.

**Again, thank you all for all the reviews you gave me! They really encourage me to write faster! Here are the replies:**

**going for the win: Thanks! I love Arianna Grande! Especially Problem! I just let that song go on repeat over and over and over****…**

**selectionprincess59: Here ya go! I hope you enjoyed this chapter!**

**Theoneforever: Thank you!**

**PrincessIndia: I love your story!**

**Mhpropp16: Thank you! Well****… ****Currently she is in the hospital****… ****;)**

**Kiren: Oooooooo. They will have plenty**

**luv2read4reading: I DO SHIP DUNE!1!11 But my OTP will always be Maxerica :)**

**alexham19: Aww... Thanks! I will note to keep this format**

**Ithe selection: Thanks a lot!**

**lovewords: Wow. A lot of questions, I see. Well HERE IS A PRESENT TO EVERYBODY!**

_He did the same thing to Celeste and 33 other girls. And I was the 35th. He will only keep on adding numbers._

**I know. It is only one sentence. But I gave ya guys suspence! Eh? What do you think?**

**Just a little question to you all: Do you want Asperica or Maxerica or Adamerica by the end of the story? Im fine with writing any of them!**

**Love you all!**

**-ClaceMaxericaSizzy**


	8. Chapter 8- Ends at a Night

**Disclaimer: As much as I would like saying that I own rights to Maxon or America, I don't. I don't own the Selection Trilogy. Kiera Cass does… **

**Also, sorry if he formatting sucks in this chapter... FF is being really laggy.**

**Chapter 8: Ends at a Night**

**AMERICA'S POV:**

After two nights in the hospital, I was good as new! Not.

My face was still riddled with bruises. They were turning a purple color now. Ugh! They just had to attack me right before the dance. Luckily, my legs now could support my weight, and the feeling of me getting cooked was dulled down to a throb. I was pretty sure I could still go to the dance, if I used 20 pounds of makeup to cover my bruises.

I decided to skip school to avoid meeting Aspen and Kriss. They have done too much to me and I just can't stand the sight of them anymore. So I spent the day in my house singing, eating, sleeping, playing the piano, and dunking myself in concealer. Soon, it was 4:45 and I was ready to go to Celeste's house.

I drove over to Celeste's house (more like mansion) to prepare for the dance. Celeste says that she hired some people to do our hair and makeup. I knocked on the door of her mansion and immediately Marlee answered it with a huge smile and screamed in my ear.

"OMG AMERICA IM SO GLAD YOU CAME! IM SOOOOOO EXCITED FOR THE DANCE!" She did a little dance in front of me.

I hugged her and stepped into the mansion. It was about the same size as Maxon's house, but her house was in a Victorian type of style. There were grand staircases everywhere and the floor glimmered with a shine. My jaw dropped, and I felt a sharp pain there. I quickly closed my mouth and followed Marlee into Celeste's bedroom.

Inside Celeste's bedroom, there was a vanity and a huge queen size bed. The room had a princess-like feel to it and there I saw Celeste with Mary, Lucy, and Anne doing her makeup.

"Hi Celeste! Your'e looking good!"

Celeste made a smile and attempted to reply back (because of the weird fish face she was making...)

"Ruh row! Hank you!" Translation: I have no idea.

"Hi Mary, Lucy, and Anne! I didn't know you did makeup too!" I said gleefully.

"Oh hello America! So nice to see you again! We specialize in prom so we know how to do everything that's related to beauty!" They said back.

"Here, I'll take America, while Anne can take Marlee over here. Mary can finish Celeste's makeup."

I was dragged to the other side of the room and Lucy started doing my hair and makeup.

~Time Skip...~

It turns out the weird fish face was for applying blush. After making some other weird faces, some hair yanking and a bathroom break, I was done! I thanked Lucy for doing my makeup and hair and turned to look at myself.

Wow. I look gooood.

My eyes were lined with liquid eyeliner, and light shimmery silver eyeshadow covered my lid. The eye shadow made my usually dull, gray eyes into ice blue eyes. I had a nude lip and a light pink blush. All my bruises were hidden, it was like Aspen and Kriss never bullied me. My hair fell down my shoulders in soft curls that I never could tame.

I put on my dress and that completed the look. I was once again a nice princess that could never be hurt. I stood in awe of my reflection.

Then, I grabbed Maxon's bracelet and wore it on my right hand.

"Oh my gosh, Lucy! You work wonders! You actually made me look pretty!" I gasped.

"Oh America, your beauty was always there, I just used a little makeup to enhance it and bring it out." She replied back to me.

When Marlee was done with her makeup, we all stood in front of the mirror, admiring ourselves.

Marlee's makeup was done with summer sunset colors, fading out from a soft red to a yellow. Her cheeks were tinged with the slightest pink blush and they put on vibrant red lipstick on her to match her eye shadow. Marlee's wore a yellow hi-lo dress. She looked like she was emitting smiles and sunshine into the world.

Then there was Celeste. Her makeup was a dark smokey eye to match her dark dress. She had no blush on her and her lips were a dark red. She looked mysterious and untouchable. Her dress was a black, tight fitting dress. It had a sweetheart neckline and lace crawled up from her neckline to surround her neck.

"We look good girls!" Celeste exclaimed.

"Oh yes we do!" Marlee screamed.

We all did a group hug, including Mary, Lucy, and Anne and we jumped up and down like little girls. I put on the blue bracelet that Maxon gave me, and it went surprisingly well with my dress.

We took some pictures posing like models. At the end, we all did duck faces and blew kisses to the camera. I checked the time and it was already 6:50!

I shouted in surprise, "Oh my gosh we are going to be late!"

But then Marlee and Celeste laughed and said, "It's called being fashionably late! But we do have to go soon to catch our limo."

After 5 minutes of laughing, we finally stepped outside to meet our limo. I went into the limo, ignoring my burning back and the driver drove to the school.

Time skip! Again...

When we arrived at our school at around 7:10 the dance was at full swing. It was very festive, with lights flashing everywhere, beautiful streamers and balloons decorating the walls and ceilings, and the DJ rocking in the front.

As we walked in, I could see Kriss glaring at me, Aspen checking me out and Maxon talking with his friends. Wow Maxon, great way to greet your date. I see Kriss wearing a very short (so short you can see her undies) black spaghetti strap dress. Honestly, I think she went to the wrong party. This is a school dance. NOT a strip club… Celeste and Marlee ditched me for their dates, and I stood there. But then I felt a wave of pain on my lower back and I sat at the bleachers, surveying the dance.

Celeste was grinding her hips against the hot guy near the corner. Marlee was slow dancing with Carter, gazing into each other's eyes, despite the pop song that was playing. A group of girl Ones were in then corner, checking their makeup, adding at least 15 pounds more. Someone should really tell them that if they add any more, they would scare the crap out of people from their clown-like faces. Maxon and his friends were getting trampled by other girls. Kriss and Aspen were talking, secluded in a corner. They both were making strong hand gestures. Otherwise, all the other people were dancing in the middle of the gym, dancing to Katy Perry's song, Birthday.

Then, I spotted a few people I know from my classes like Adam, for example. I waved and he walked over.

"Hey America! Looking very good!"

"Thanks Adam, you too!"

He gave me a smile, waved, and walked over to his friends. Then the music slowed down, and I slow song was playing. I started to make my way towards Maxon, but it was like he didn't even know I was at the dance. I watched Maxon ask Kriss to dance and I just stood there, stunned. Tears were burning on the back of my eye. You should have expected this, America! But then I felt a soft tap on my shoulder. I blinked them away and I turned around to see an extremely hot guy.

"Hello, would you like to dance?" He asked. I was about to deny, but tonight, I was going to be someone other than my usual secluded self. I winked at him and nodded. He led me to the dance floor, where "A Drop in the Ocean" by Ron Pope. I rested my head on his chest, and I put my hand on his lower back. I felt him shudder, and I smiled inwardly to myself. Once the song ended, I sprung apart from him, smiled a sly smile at him, and winked mysteriously, leaving him stunned on the dance floor. I went back to the bleachers and surveyed the dance floor again, where I saw him excitedly talking to his other hot friends. But after all that, Maxon was the only thing that I was thinking about.

Later, I hung out with Marlee and Celeste and had a fun time. They talked about their boys, and when it was my turn, I just mustered a smile. Then the announcer said that the next song is going to be a slow song. It was time to confront Maxon. My two minds started fighting.

Stubborn America: Please don't go to Maxon. AHH! Don't go! You'll get humiliated if Kriss sees you!

Brave America: So what?! You can then kick her ass, and Maxon will be there right next to you!

Stubborn America: But-

Brave America: NO BUTS FOR GOD'S SAKE. GO.

And the decision was made.

*After a minute of awkward dancing to get closer to Maxon*

The fast song finally ended and I got close to Maxon. I lightly tapped him on the shoulder. I was expecting a 'hey America! I didn't see you here!' but instead I got a:

"Oh it's you. I am kinda busy right now. So yeah." His eyes shone with an anger I didn't understand.

"Um. It's me. America." Wow, do I look that different?

"Yeah I know. You know what? I don't really care about you anymore, you slut."

That felt like a slap on my face. Angry tears welled up in my eyes.

"You know what? I hate you with all my heart. God damn you to hell." I threw my bracket at his head and I ran out the doors, catching the attention of Marlee and Celeste, and I limped to the bathroom with tears dripping down my face. How am I a slut? What did I do to get him that angry? I tried to ignore what Maxon said to me, but I just couldn't.

I ran down the hallway, sobbing in my hands. Marlee and Celeste were patting my back and comforting me. But I drowned out all of that. Why would ask another person when your date is right there? Why did Maxon ignore me? Was he lying about every single thing he said to me? My mind switched. But he is a player. He dates and dumps until he finds someone that is right for him. I guess that person wasn't me. But who cares? He did the same thing to Celeste and 33 other girls. And I was the 35th. He will only keep on adding numbers. Finally, we reached the bathroom and I sat on the counter, grabbing tissues and dabbing my face. My makeup wore down in layers from the tears that were pouring from my eyes.

"What happened, America?" Celeste asked me with a soothing tone. I calmed down and said in a shaky tone, "I don't know what happened. One day Maxon calls me the most beautiful person he knows, and then a few days later, he is calling me a slut and rejecting me for Kriss. Did anything happen when I saw gone?"

"THAT SON OF A BITCH CALLED YOU A SLUT?" Marlee said in a menacing tone that made me think that I was lucky to be on Marlee's good side, "OH, HE IS GONNA GET A PIECE OF MAR MAR HERE!" Now I'm wondering if Marlee is drunk...

"What the hell? Maxon called you beautiful?" I nodded and Celeste started putting on a thinking face. "I gotta go... confront, uh someone." She finally said.

Marlee and I shared a confused look and I nodded and said a hesitant "okay" before she rushed out the bathroom.

"Maybe I can get Carter to go talk to Maxon about this?" Marlee reasoned.

"No, I'm just going to forget about Maxon. I don't want any more business with him."

"Good. Because you should just forget about him and leave him with Kriss. They are both whores and they only deserve each other."

I mustered up a smile for her, but deep inside, I knew that forgetting about Maxon would be hard, when he is the only thing you think about.

MAXON POV:

I watched as America ran out the door. Good. She deserved that. But even I knew I was just lying to myself to make me feel better on what I just done.

America Singer was the only one I ever cared for. And I lost her.

I sat down on the bleachers, examining the blue bracket I gave her.

*FLASHBACK*

WEDNESDAY, WHEN AMERICA WAS STILL IN THE HOSPITAL.

Today America wasn't at school. I was looking forward to seeing her, because I was about to tell her how I really felt.

I was putting my books away when a seven walked up to me and tapped my shoulder.

"Maxon, Kri-America wanted me to tell you something

"Yup. What?" I said excitedly and impatiently because I wanted to know what America wants me to know.

"Um. America told me to tell you that she is going to the dance with uh, Adam Parker instead of you because she finds him more attractive."

WHAT? How did this happen? Didn't my words mean nothing to her? My heart was broken into tiny little pieces. America told me that Adam was just a friend though.

"Um. Ok. Thanks for telling me that." I said, trying to keep the anger out of my voice.

And then she rushed off.

Then, Kriss suddenly appeared out of nowhere wearing extremely skimpy clothes today- very short booty shorts and a very thin tank top. How in the world does she not get dress-coded?

She traced the outside of my arm. "Maxy, babe. Where's Ames? I heard that 'she's in the hospital today'" she said making air quotations around in the hospital.

Frustrated, I kissed her. I released all my anger and deepened the kiss. She slipped her hands under my shirt and kissed me back with force. But then she pulled back into a face of thoughtfulness.

"But if Ames is at 'the hospital' who are you going to the dance with?" She asked with a puppy dog face.

"You." I said, not wanting to hear anything about America anymore.

END OF CHAPTER 8.

.

.

.

.

**:) I'm not that evil, though my sister begs to differ. Haha just kidding, there is more.**

I snapped back into reality when someone slapped me on the face. I looked up and saw a fuming Celeste. I was ready to punch back and ask what that was for, but Celeste raised up a finger and said, "I already beat up a guy from the swim team, and you don't want to be next."

"What the hell was that for?" I yelled at her face.

"Now now, before you can get angry, let's bring this outside so we won't have your fan club on the ground, injured because they tried to protect you from me." Celeste said in a tsking tone.

We walked down the hallway and into an empty math classroom and we sat down in two chairs.

"Look," I said, "if this is about me dumping you, I'm sor-" I was cut off my Celeste.

"This isn't about you dumping me. This is about America." My heart stopped at the sound of her name. I replied cautiously, "W-what about her?"

"Are you kidding me? I just saw her run out the door with tears streaming down her face! And I just had a little talk with her and it seems like the cause was you." Celeste growled at my face, "and I will not have you play her like how you did with me."

She glared at me with venom in her eyes. If looks can kill, I'd be dead by now.

She took a couple steps towards me. "You really are a player aren't you. This is what you get for hurting my friend."

She pins me against the wall with her elbow against my neck. She leans in towards my ear and whispers menacingly:

"You hurt her again, I will beat you up into pieces of shit."

And she walks away.

* * *

**I took the vote last week because I needed to keep count on how many people will kill me (jk) By the way... PLEASE DONT KILL ME! I PROMISE I WILL END WITH MAXERICA... Just read on! Ugh... all this gushy mushy stuff... Gag. I hope this chapter wasn't as bad as I thought it was. ANYWAY, I added some bad ass Celeste in there, hope you liked that! Sorry it look me so long to update, I wrote it 5 times because each version didn't get the correct outcome out of it... Lol I sound like a math professor. If f(x) is x squared plus two x plus three, what is the outcome if x is one? Now enough with this gibberish, let's get on with the reviews...**

**PrincessIndia:You were correct! Wow! A lot can come from a sentence! And don't worry, it will with Maxerica!**

**Mhpropp16: I will update quicker these last few days of summer so I can cram in as many chapters before school starts! Thank for reviewing!**

**going for the win: Well now you know! He hasn't visited (or talked) to America because of Kriss's lie... Why did I make Kriss so evil?!**

**Kiren: haha lol. Everyone has different types of music they like and dislike. For example, I dislike Miley Cyrus! P.S. I'm not mad at you! :)**

**luv2read4reading: Let me break it to you, yes. IM SORRY! But I will end with Maxerica!**

**Dianastyles: Yo no hablo espanol...**

**Theselectedwriter: HAHA LOL. :)**

**Nichole Hero Of The Gods: Thanks! Daddy Shreave is going to appear in later chapters. And great idea! P.S. Love the name! I'm guessing you read PJO and HoO?**

**PETTAMELLARKLOVER123: Ok!**

**Theoneforever: aww thanks! I love Maxerica too!**

**Kellyzoie123: Thanks a lot for the review! You are so nice! :)**

**lovewords: haha lol. I was just joking. But I love your reviews! They make me laugh and smile! (Sorry if that sounded a little cheesy...) if you read the Percy Jackson series, wouldn't you agree that Percy has the same description as Aspen?**

**NoTuRavErage: Oh my gosh! I love love triangles too! They have so much drama...**

**Meg: Thanks a lot! I get the feeling when you see an update from a story that updates, and you just want to scream and jump... That happens to me a lot... :)**

**The Selection Fangirl: Ok!**

**Volleyball14: No! Don't explode! Haha jk, I will update quicker these next days!**

**d12t4eva: KK!**

**Volleyball14: There's another Volleyball14? Well ok... But thanks so much for that review! **

**alexham19: Thanks so much for that review! It made me smile! And I love Maxerica too!**

**You guys are so awesome! Also the next chapter will be much, much, longer!**

**Luv you all!**

**~ClaceMaxericaSizzy**


	9. Chapter 9- Two Months

**Disclaimer: I don't own the Selection Trilogy, but that would be the perfect birthday present (For those who are listening... Haha lol jk) I also don't own the various songs and song artists in this chapter.**

**Chapter 9: Two months**

**Maxon POV:**

Two months.

Two months and I haven't spoken a word to America.

Of course, we carried on with our lives. America was with Adam, AKA the guy she ditched me for, and I currently have Kriss. But not for long. I'm in the mood of dumping her this hot Asian named Elise.

But I still miss America. Sadly, the only thing I have left of her is her bracelet.

_*Flashback*_

_"You know what? I hate you with all my heart. God damn you to hell." She threw an object at my head and I watched as she ran out the doors. I caught it and I examined the object she threw at me._

_It was the bracelet that I gave her._

_My heart stopped._

_The bracelet symbolized the promise I gave her. I breathed out the breath I held in._

_*End of Flashback*_

I kept the bracelet ever since.

I walked in the school as Kriss, behind me, latched onto my arm and started petting it seductively. She started nipping the skin below my ear and purred in my ear. I wrapped my hand around her waist and met my lips agains hers. She responded, and the kiss turned into a wet and sloppy kiss. This continued until someone coughed behind me.

Ahh. Carter.

I wiped my mouth and waved bye to Kriss, and in return, she gave me a seductive smile.

"Hey man wassup?" I said to him like nothing just happened.

"Nothing much. Hey, it's my birthday this Saturday and as my best friend, you are invited to my party!" Carter said to me while giving me an invitation.

"Oh cool dude! Thanks for inviting me, bro." I replied back to him, "Will America be there?"

"Why Maxon? You gotta a little crush on her? But you gotta know that she's dating Adam."

"Shut up, Woodwork! I'll see you Saturday!" I said to Carter while he backing out and meeting up with Marlee.

I scanned the hallway and my eyes zoom in on Elise, standing next to a water-fountain. Her black lush hair flows just right with her curvy body. I scanned her and walked on over there.

"Hey there, babe, I was wondering if you would like to hang out with me tonight." I said as I slid my hand from her back to her butt.

She giggled and replied a yes.

I gave my signature wink and walked down the hallway. I need a plan to get America back.

**AMERICA POV:**

I walked into the school, head down and hugging the walls. As an eight, I tried not to drag attention to myself. Since the attack, you would think that Aspen and Kriss would be suspended, or even expelled, but they had "connections" to people in the school, so they just wormed their way through their accusation and punishment. Since then, they have been tormenting me more.

But there was another problem. Maxon. I haven't talked to him for more than 2 months, even though we share multiple classes together. But I miss him so much. I miss his smile, and his sarcastic jokes. He protected me from Aspen. Oh well.

I have been dating Adam ever since the dance, because it turns out he liked me ever since he saw me. Adam has been the sweetest person. We share kisses and hugs and he helps me with my homework and my projects. Maybe he is the one for me.

I was walking to my first class, with my history textbook, notebook, and my pencil pouch in my hand. I was keeping my head low, but it snapped up when the first period bell rang. Shoot, I'm going to be late. I ran down the halls but I crashed into a person and spilled all my stuff on the ground. I fell to the ground, but until I could reach there, a hand gripped my shoulder and pulled me against the person. I looked up and saw Maxon, with his chocolate brown eyes staring right back at my gray ones. We stayed like that for who knows how long, I could have stayed like that forever, but I broke out of the trance and whispered the first words we have ever said in months, "I'm sorry, I should have known where I was going." I crouched down to retrieve my spilled materials, but Maxon got there quicker. He picked up all my stuff and handed it to me. I thanked him and I began to walk away.

"You forgot something America."

I turned my head to see Maxon right behind me, holding a small object up. He lightly grabbed my hands and placed it in my palms. I looked at his eyes looking a million miles away. He lightly placed his lips against my cheek.

I watched as he walked away.

I opened my palms to find two objects-

_America, I hope you are happy with Adam._

_I'm sorry for all the pain I caused you. I hope you can forgive me._

Clipped to the note, was the blue bracelet that he gave me. I lightly touched it, and put it on my right hand.

-Page Break-

Celeste, Marlee, and I sat at our usual table near the windows. Marlee was her usual bubbly self and started off the conversation.

"Oh my gosh! Carter is having a birthday party and he says you two are invited!" She grabbed two invites out of her bag and gave them to us.

It read:

_To: America Singer_

_You are invited to Carter Woodworks 18th Birthday this Saturday. Bring your party clothes and swimsuits. Even though it is November, we will be swimming in an indoor pool. The party starts at 2. Address is 46564 NE 94th CT, Illea Way, 35462. _

"Um, Marlee, I'm not even Carter's friend! Of all people, why was I invited?" I voiced my thoughts to Marlee.

"Oh! Of course you were invited! You two are my BFFs and he knows I would kill him if you weren't invited." I then pictured Marlee strangling Carter. I smiled and hugged Marlee, "Aww, you are the best!"

Then Celeste spoke up, "Now do you know what this means?" Oh no. No not-"We have to go shopping for swimwear and party dresses!"

"Oh my gosh yes! We have to check out Ilea's Secret, Forever Illea, and oh my gosh! We have to go on a shopping date!" Marlee said. Oh no, not again..

"Ooh! We should go to Illea Eagle to get our party dresses!" Celeste said.

"Wait, if I go swimming, won't all my bruises show because the concealer will wash off?" I ask

"Okay, maybe you can't go swimming, but you can still show off your body to make guys drool. Just please buy a swim suit with us! Plleeeaaasssee?" Celeste said in a whiny tone.

"Ugh fine. So when are we going to have our shopping date?"

"How about today?" Marlee said. I mentally face-palmed and rolled my eyes on how Marlee puts this as a priority.

"Fine." I grumbled back.

I dumped my trash and waved bye to Marlee and Celeste and walked to my next class, language arts.

I scurried down the hall, keeping my head low when I hear two familiar voices.

"-just have to do it." A feminine voice said, apparently annoyed.

"But we had a deal! You promised help me with it!" The male voice pleaded.

"But I am adding another part. I have plenty of connections and I can tell them whatever. I. Want. Understand?"

The male mumbled a yes.

I poked my head around the corner to see two brown haired people walking down the hallway.

One of the people was Adam.

And the other was Kriss.

A throughout Language Arts, I was staring at the clock, willing it to go faster. I needed to see Adam and ask what that was all about. Why was he talking to Kriss? Why was he making a deal? WHY?!

I shifted my eyes back to the clock and tried to use "the force" that Darth Vader told me. I scrunched up my eyebrows, clenched my fists and pressed my lips in a line to concentrate as hard as I can. Bend the force. BEND THE FORCE! The teacher looked at me. I stifled a smile and returned to pay attention, thinking that the teacher may think I have bowel problems.

In three minutes and fourty eight milliseconds, class was out! I quickly packed up my stuff and walked to AP Chemistry, where I can bombard my boyfriend with questions. Yay.

After I walked like a ninja (making me one minute late to class) to chemistry, I sat next to Adam after I gave him a peck on the cheek. He looked up and gave me a smile. Now, everyone that isn't close to Adam would think that that smile is a real, genuine one. But after examining his smile, it looked like a complete fake smile.

I passed a note to him.

_America: Hey Adam. R u ok?_

_Adam: Yup. Just a little tired, you know. I spent a late night doing math._

_America: Ok then. I saw you talking to Kriss. What was that all about?_

_Adam: She wanted help from me. It was nothing._

_America: You sounded kinda aggravated though._

_Adam: She didn't get the concept after I repeated it a million times._

_America: Oh._

_Adam: how much of the conversation did u hear?_

_America: not much. Y?_

He waited a while before replying. I could almost see him try to grasp for a reply quick.

_Adam: I didn't want you to see what I look like when I am angry. I look like the Hulk :)_

I looked at him and smiled.

"Okay class, " Ms. Zoe snapped me out of my thoughts, "we are going to be doing a lab today on isolating salt from methanol. Please get into your lab groups and get the needed materials." Ugh no! Not another lab. The last time I did a lab, it went horribly.

_"Hey America?" A girl named Stephanie asked me, "can you get me the hexane?"_

_Uh... What's hexane? Despite my confusion, I said, "yup sure." I went over to the table of chemicals and saw vials of solutions everywhere. I grabbed one that had the color of a pretty purple flower and gave it to her. She mumbled a thanks and poured it into the bubbling flask. Then immediately the flask started overflowing and started spewing everywhere. Me, being the furthest away from the bubbling flask, had no effect whatsoever from the exploding flask. But the others, heheh, they smelled like sulfur (which smells like rotten eggs) for a couple of weeks._

I better just be a spectator this time...

~Page break~

As I walked to Music with Marlee, I was listening to her talk all about the party at Carter's house. The conversation went a little like this:

"Oh my gosh Woodie's birthday is going to be the best birthday party ever! I mean, what should I get him? Oh my gosh! I'm panicking so much!" Marlee rambled on. I sighed at the mention of Woodie, Marlee's nickname for Carter Woodwork. Why couldn't she choose a different nickname for him? Like car- _uhh no,_ or Wood- _No one wants to be a tree!, _or Ter- _that just sounds like Turd. _Oh, never mind that's the only good nickname for him.

"I'm planning on giving him a guitar for his birthday. He plays guitar, right? I have plenty of new acoustic and electric guitars at my home." I said to her. Marlee facepalmed and scolded me, "Oh my gosh America! You steal all the good ideas! Now you have to help me think of an idea on what to give to Carter!"

"Ahh fineeee..." I sighed as we entered the music room. The bell rang and we all took our seats.

"Okay class today will be singing in duets. Please pair up with someone in the class." Marlee and I made eye contact and immediately start going toward each other.

We looked around the room and saw that Maxon had a huge group of girls around him, but it was clear that he wanted to be with Carter and sing a duet with him. Carter had a similar situation. Marlee and I laughed out loud at that. That caught the girls attention and they immediately started sneaking toward us. I saw Carter and Maxon pair up. They did a thumbs up to us and I gave a half hearted smile back. But then came the brunt of the situation...

"What were you laughing at?!" "What's so funny?!" They started pelting us with rhetorical questions.

Marlee exclaimed in a mock surprised tone and pointed to the boys who were currently talking, "oh no! Maxon and Carter are taken!" They all grumbled and started pairing up.

"Nice one Marlee," I stated and she laughed at that, "Now which song do you want to want to sing?"

"I was thinking of singing your new song!" Marlee said excitedly. Oh no... When did she learn about my new song? Celeste... I'm gonna kill her for this!

"Really? I thought that we would sing something more popular, like P!NK, or Taylor Swift." I said, trying to reason with her.

"No! Every other girl is going to sing that!" True enough, there were murmurs of One Direction, Katy Perry, Lady Gaga, and Miley Cyrus. Wait! Miley Cyrus? Oh, they better not sing that.

"Ok fine. I'll get my guitar and you start learning "Never Have I Ever." **(A/N once again, Never Have I ever is a song from Megan Nicole, and I don't don't own it this song... But listen to it! It's a catchy song)**

I walked over to the guitar stands and picked out an red acoustic guitar. I put the handle around me and started humming the lyrics.

When it was time to present our songs, we decided to wait until the end to show ours. So as time went on, there were many people singing Lady Gaga, Katy Perry, Taylor Swift, The Wanted, and sure enough, Miley Cyrus... I sighed in disgust when a picture of her on a wrecking ball came up. I quickly swiped that thought away as the next duet, Maxon and Carter went up there to sing.

"Well, my name is Maxon,"

"And my name is Carter."

"And we won't be telling the song name of what we are going to sing, you have to guess it!" A few girls sighed at them, while I rolled my eyes.

A track that I could faintly distinguish started playing, and immediately, I recognized the song. And that wasn't a good thing:

_Dog goes woof_

_Cat goes meow_

_Bird goes tweet_

_and mouse goes squeek_

_Cow goes moo_

_Frog goes croak_

_and the elephant goes toot_

_Ducks say quack_

_and fish go blub_

_and the seal goes ow ow ow ow ow_

_But theres one sound_

_That no one knows_

_What does the fox say?_

_Ring-ding-ding-ding-dingeringeding!_

_Gering-ding-ding-ding-dingeringeding!_

_Gering-ding-ding-ding-dingeringeding!_

_What the fox say?_

_Wa-pa-pa-pa-pa-pa-pow!_

_Wa-pa-pa-pa-pa-pa-pow!_

_Wa-pa-pa-pa-pa-pa-pow!_

_What the fox say?_

_Hatee-hatee-hatee-ho!_

_Hatee-hatee-hatee-ho!_

_Hatee-hatee-hatee-ho!_

_What the fox say?_

_Joff-tchoff-tchoffo-tchoffo-tchoff!_

_Tchoff-tchoff-tchoffo-tchoffo-tchoff!_

_Joff-tchoff-tchoffo-tchoffo-tchoff!_

_What the fox say?_

_Big blue eyes_

_Pointy nose_

_Chasing mice_

_and digging holes_

_Tiny paws_

_Up the hill_

_Suddenly youre standing still_

_Your fur is red_

_So beautiful_

_Like an angel in disguise_

_But if you meet_

_a friendly horse_

_Will you communicate by_

_mo-o-o-o-orse?_

_mo-o-o-o-orse?_

_mo-o-o-o-orse?_

_How will you speak to that_

_ho-o-o-o-orse?_

_ho-o-o-o-orse?_

_ho-o-o-o-orse?_

_What does the fox say?_

_Jacha-chacha-chacha-chow!_

_Chacha-chacha-chacha-chow!_

_Chacha-chacha-chacha-chow!_

_What the fox say?_

_Fraka-kaka-kaka-kaka-kow!_

_Fraka-kaka-kaka-kaka-kow!_

_Fraka-kaka-kaka-kaka-kow!_

_What the fox say?_

_A-hee-ahee ha-hee!_

_A-hee-ahee ha-hee!_

_A-hee-ahee ha-hee!_

_What the fox say?_

_A-oo-oo-oo-ooo!_

_Woo-oo-oo-ooo!_

_What does the fox say?_

_The secret of the fox_

_Ancient mystery_

_Somewhere deep in the woods_

_I know youre hiding_

_What is your sound?_

_Will we ever know?_

_Will always be a mystery_

_What do you say?_

_You're my guardian angel_

_Hiding in the woods_

_What is your sound?_

_Will we ever know?_

_I want to_

_I want to_

_I want to know!_

As they ended, a bunch of girls were already clapping and screaming for them and blowing teacher gave out her comments and then called Marlee and I up to sing my song. My heart was thumping so hard as I picked up my guitar and walked up the stage.

"Hi, my name is Marlee Tames,"

"And I'm America Singer."

"And we are going to sing an original song by America, called Never Have I Ever."

I started playing the intro and Marlee and I started singing,

_Never been a, been a wild one_

_Usually I'm home_

_Stuck on re-runs_

_Chinese for one, Checkin' on my pho-o-o-one_

_But my friends, they_

_Made me go out on the town tonight_

_Never thought I'd meet somebody who'd open up my eyes._

_Never knew I could dance_

_'til I was next to you_

_Make me wanna take a chance_

_And see what we could get in to_

_Don't know if you'll be my man_

_But I like the things you do '_

_Till you took me by the hand_

_Yeah_

_Never, have I ever stayed out_

_Singing purple rain_

_Dancing on the tables boy_

_You bring it out of me_

_Oh oh oh_

_But it feels right_

_Oh oh oh_

_For the first time_

_Never have I ever fallen_

_Like I did tonight with you_

_Karaoke_

_A capella_

_And we're racing shopping carts_

_Tell me secrets_

_On the beach and_

_Take me swimming_

_In the dark_

_Never knew I could dance_

_'til I was next to you_

_Make me wanna take a chance_

_And see what we could get in to_

_Don't know if you'll be my man_

_But I like the things you do '_

_Till you took me by the hand_

_Yeah_

_Never, have I ever stayed out_

_Singing purple rain_

_Dancing on the tables boy_

_You bring it out of me_

_Oh oh oh_

_But it feels right_

_Oh oh oh_

_For the first time_

_Never have I ever fallen_

_Like I did tonight with you_

_Ooh ooh ooh ooh_

_Tonight with you_

_Ooh ooh ooh ooh_

_Tonight with you_

_Ooh ooh ooh ooh_

_Tonight with you_

_Make you stop and hit the drive thru_

_Singing with the radio_

_Watch the sunrise in the rear-view_

_As you take me home_

_Never, have I ever stayed out_

_Singing purple rain_

_Dancing on the tables boy_

_You bring it out of me_

_Oh oh oh_

_But it feels right_

_Oh oh oh_

_For the first time_

_Never have I ever fallen_

_Like I did tonight with you_

_Ooh ooh ooh ooh_

_Tonight with you_

_Ooh ooh ooh ooh_

_Tonight with you_

_Ooh ooh ooh ooh_

_Tonight with you_

_Like I did tonight with you_

_Ooh ooh ooh ooh_

_Tonight with you_

_Ooh ooh ooh ooh_

_Tonight with you_

_Ooh ooh ooh ooh_

_Tonight with you_

_Like I did tonight with you_

I was smiling the entire time at the audience, and when we finally ended, Marlee and I hugged each other and bowed at the applause that we were getting. We skipped off the stage and as the bell rang, I packed up and I went off to Art Class to finish the day.

O_o Page Break and and Time Skip o_O

I waited outside the school, waiting for Marlee and Celeste to begin our shopping date. Soon, I saw 2 figures walking towards me, discussing about what they were going to wear and what color bikinis that they should choose. They noticed me staring at them and I waved. They came running toward me and Marlee said, "Hey America! Are ya ready for our shopping trip?"

"Nope."I said cheerfully.

Celeste smacked my arm. "Come on! Lets go!"

On the car ride there was three girls belting out their lungs, singing to songs on the radio.

We arrived there out of breath and our voices scratchy and horse.

"So! What's first, clothes or presents?"

"Presents."I said but at the same time Celeste said, "Clothes! Of course! Like if you don't get clothes first, you will be nude! By the way, which is awkward!"

Marlee looked at both of us. "Wow. Ok. Play rock, paper, scissors."

In my mind I smirked. I knew she would pick scissors because it relates to cutting hair, and making eyebrows look pretty.

"Rock, paper, scissors!"I put down a rock, and smiled with victory.

"Ok! Clothes it is!"

"WHAT?"

I looked down at our hands. Celeste put down paper.

"Girl, just because scissors are used to cut hair and make my eyebrows perfect, I'm not that predictable."Celeste whispered to me.

I sent a sheepish smile to her. We walked to Illea's Secret and I saw Marlee and Celeste squeal. I looked at them. They both pointed at the big sign that read: 75% off everything!

Darn it. This means more shopping. Darn. I followed behind my friends as they skipped into the store.

"Ok, lets get started!"

I looked around and brought a few swimsuits with me in the dressing room. As I walked into the dressing room Marlee and Celeste dumped a merciful amount of other swim wear onto my pile and said, "Here, try them all on!" Oy, this is going to be a long day...

I went to the dressing room and changed into my first swimsuit. It was a light gray bikini. Simple but elegant. I showed Marlee and Celeste and they both said "NEXT!"

Next, I tried on a swimsuit that Celeste gave to me to try on. It was a zebra print and it was just was a strip of cloth. I tried that on and gaped at myself at the mirror. Let me describe what I looked like in the mirror using one word. Kriss. I looked like a slut for goodness sakes! I quickly ripped the swimsuit off.

I tried on a few others to show to Marlee and Celeste and they all dismissed it as soon as I walked out to show them. I scrimmaged through the pile of swimsuits until I found a bandeau that was white but had a few blue floral designs. When I walked out, I was greeted by Marlee and Celeste both holding signs that said 10.

After an hour, both Marlee and Celeste got swimsuits. Marlee got a yellow ruffled halter top bikini, and Celeste got a black bikini with purple, inconsistent stripes.

We paid and went to the next store, to get dresses. Oh someone help me.

~Time Skip~

By the end of the torturous time of trying on and buy dresses, I got a simple white dress with a white jean vest with blue flower designs on the vest (like the swimsuit), Marlee got a gray sweater dress, and Celeste got a light pink skater dress and a leather jacket to go over that. Ahh! Yes! Done with shopping for clothes. Finally, now onto Part 2: The real reason why we should be here, for Carter's present.

"Carter likes video games right?"Celeste asked.

"Oh my goodness. All Carter does in his free time is play video games!" Marlee exclaimed.

"Yeah, one day I went to Carter's house with Marlee and we saw him in his 'blanket igloo'upside down, playing Halo, so I decided I could tip him over. I pushed him to the ground and he landed on a pillow, unfazed."I whistled.

"I CALL GIVING HIM VIDEO GAMES!"Celeste yelled in my ears.

We all walked to 'Illea's Favorite Game Store'and looked around.

"What kind of games does Carter like? Shooting, Racing, or Adventure? Wait. IS HE A BRONIE?!"

"He likes anything that he can shoot. Also, a tip, don't get him a racing game, because he rage quits a lot in those type of games."

I shuddered at the memory. Que the flashback…

_I was in Marlee__'__s house and I was told to bring Carter along with me. So I told Carter to __' __do whatever__'__and he sprung up and went to Marlee__'__s living room, probably to watch tv_

_Boy how I was wrong._

_After 10 minutes of peace and zen, I hear Carter running around the house yelling. This is how my mind processed his yelling._

_"__WHY? THIS (bleep) VIDEO GAME IS SO (bleep) RIGGED. Luigi, or may I say son of a (bleep) is so (bleep) (bleep) (bleep) cheating! He is a piece a (bleep) (bleep). I just wanted to get FIRSTTTTTTTTTT!__"_

_Someone please help him._

*End of Flashback."

Celeste chose a few video games for Xbox Three and PS5. In her hands were Dead Rising, iNinga, and Kinect: My Little Pony.

She paid and we all put our minds together on what Marlee should get.

"OH I GOT A PERFECT IDEA! Why don't you get him a chain necklace that says Marlee+Carter?"Celeste thought out loud.

So we walked to a random jewelry store called "Jewelry for men" and we looked around, trying to find the perfect man necklace for Carter.

After 10 minutes, I spotted a gold chain necklace that would go perfect with Carter's hair and eyes. At the end of the necklace was a rectangular gold tag that could be engraved on. It was simple, but beautiful.

"Marlee! Celeste! I found one!" I yelled so that the whole mall could probably hear me. They ran over, wanting to see the one I picked.

"My gosh! That is perfect, America! Thanks a lot!" Marlee hugged me.

"True dat, bro." Celeste said cooly. We all laughed at that.

Marlee called over the store manager and he took the necklace to get an engraving on it. After a few minutes, he came back with the engraved necklace and gift wrapped the present.

Ah, yes! Finally done with shopping. I swear I'm going to collapse if I stayed here for one minute longer, holding the humongous amount of bags that make me off centered on my weight.

**MAXON POV:**

"Carter, dude. Who exactly is going to be at the party?" I said while playing Mario Supreme Prix with Carter on his Xbox.

"Um, let's see..." Carter then listed off a couple- ha no, A LOT of names off his mind list of the people coming to his party. A there were a few that caught my name. It turns out Kriss was invited, Adam, Kriss, Celeste, Elise, and America were all invited to the birthday party.

"Um Carter, can you help me with something?" I asked my best friend cautiously.

"Ya sure anything dude. You're my best friend, bro," He slapped my back, "but first let me finish this race. Luigi is beating me right now and it's the last lap!" Then he started swearing under his breath. I watched him lose to Luigi, and his reaction was hilarious...

"That mother****** Luigi! His stupid f****** mustache and beard! This game is s***!" He seemed to calm down and control his chi. He turned his attention to me with all earlier emotion somehow erased, "Ya, so what do you need help on?"

"I need your help getting America back. I was hoping at your party, we could hook up?" I asked him.

"Um dude, I can't, because Marlee said to me that she was hurt by your words and if I were to do stuff behind her back about America and you, she would cut off my manhood and my ability to make babies. Mar was so beautiful when she was angry..." Carter sighed off into his LaLa land.

That means I have to get her to be mine by myself.

°•°°••°°°•••°°°°••••°°°°°•••••°°°°°°••••••°°°°°°°•••••••°°°°°°°°••••••••°°°°°°°°°•••••••••°°°°°°°°°°•••••••••••

**HI GALS AND GUYS! Here is a slightly longer chapter for all the reviews you all gave me! So how did you like it? I hope you did like it! I think this is what is called a filler chapter? I dunno. I really need to study texting lingo and these terms! I almost forgot what TTYL or LMAO meant! My summer brain is finally working up! I hope you a laughed at Carter's virtual road rage, because it is a real life experience with my brother! (Except he didn't actually swear, he only used the words fudge and ship to keep my mind innocent at that young of an age) Now lets get on with the reviews:**

**PrincessIndia: I know! I don't like Kriss either! I had to make Maxon dumb in this story though****… ****I glad this week I didn****'****t have a bunch of angry people at my door. :)**

**Mhpropp16: Thanks! I hope you enjoyed this chapter!**

**luv2read4reading: lol. I think you'd better ask Kiera Cass that!**

**Dianastyles11: :) I hope you enjoyed this chapter!**

**Theoneforever: hahahaha lol!**

**going for the win: Ya, I don't like her! My sister's like a Celeste though…**

**Kiren: I'll save the kicking butts till' later. Sorry! :)**

**Kellyzoie123: YA GO CELESTE! GO GO GO!**

**alexham19: Ah! Don't worry, America will dance with Maxon in Chapter 11-13 somewhere in there. Hint hint!**

**dauntless4ever13: We'll just see!**

**belledrummond2: I based Celeste on a more ninja version of my sister. But she's a black belt though…**

**The Devil Wears Westwood: Agreed.**

**PEETAMELLARKLOVER123: I have a hard time making titles. They do spoil the chapter ;)**

**EruditeAbnegationMockinjay: Yup. Kriss is a jerk, never liked her, never will.**

**lovewords: Ya! They can go dress up as each other for Halloween! All that I'm saying is that Celeste will bring out her ninja side, sometime later…**

**N: Okey Dokey!**

**ItsjustSam: Thanks! You are so punny! (heh)**

**Guest: Might as well compare the dance to our school dances…**

**selectionfan: Well, here ya go!**

** : Aww.. Thanks for the review!**

**Once again, thank you all for the reviews! More reviews means longer chapters or updating faster! I'm sorry if I reawakened "What does the fox say" for all who dislike that song. You are all awesome and get ready for school! *groans at the mention of school* **

**Psst****… ****Hi Cindy! Hi Angelina! Sup!**

**Keep shipping Maxerica! (or Asperica... or other ships that I don't know of!) also, DFTBA! (Do you all know what that means?)**

**~ClaceMaxericaSizzy**


	10. Chapter 10- Who Dictched Who?

**Disclaimer: I think you probably know what I'm going to say here, but YOLO!- I don't own rights to the Selection Trilogy.**

**Chapter Double Digits (10): Who Ditched Who? **

**CELESTE THE NINJA's POV:**

I was walking down the hallways of the school, glaring at some of the guys that were eye-raping me. God! Did I look like a slut? If only I could headlock them and gouge their perverted part of their brains out. I mentally compared myself to some other girls in the school to check if I looked like some of the hookers in our school. Some were wearing way too see-through shirts that I would just leave to my imagination and low cut tees. I looked down at the outfit I chose. I wore a simple, floral tank top with a vest over it and some leggings. Nope. I didn't look like a slut for sure.

Then I saw Adam. I was about to go there and say hi to him, but it looked like he was waiting for someone. Hmm... My Celeste ninja curiosity senses were alerting me. So I started to go toward the wall that Adam was oh so casually leaning on.

I watched as Adam checked his phone and typed something on it. He started to walk toward a janitor's closet and I followed him. He walked inside and I pressed my ear against the door. I could only hear murmurs but I better just listen.

"You have to... I can tell... You did..." A female voice said.

"I don't like her... I'd do anything... Tell..." Adam's voice peeked through.

"Aspen... Swim meet..." The same female voice said.

I have a bad feeling about this.

**AMERICA'S POV:**

It was Friday, the day before Carter's Party. I went to school in a loose, blue flowy floral tank top with some jeggings. I slipped on a black knit sweater to prevent the coldness from getting to me.

I started walking toward my first class until I felt a hand wrap around my waist. I recognized the softness in the touch, and the firmness to the grip. I smiled and turned around to see a smiling Adam.

I reached up to kiss him and hugged him. "Hi Ad!" Ad was my nickname for Adam, and like Carter, there weren't any other good nicknames for him. I mean, who would have a nickname that sounds like Damn? So I had to make my nickname for him a mathematical term.

"Hey!" He replied back to me, "Um, so I was wondering, you could go on a date with me right before my swim meat today and then watch my swim meet?" I blushed at that.

"Oh my gosh Adam! I would love too!" I said to him. But, then Aspen is going to be there! Ugh. "But I can't go to the swim meet with you. I'm sorry" I hugged him once more and gave him a big kiss. People around us started saying, "Get a room!" Or "Ugh... I hate PDA". I complied to their complaints and broke apart from him. I smiled and waved bye, and skipped off to History with Ms. Nicoletta.

It seemed like I have a good mood today, because I was smiling a ton and I paid attention to history. Today we learned about Wars. According to Ms. Nicoletta, the Civil War was the bloodiest war in American History, and in the Civil War, there was a battle that didn't have any casualties! So cool! Within the Civil War, we learned about a soldier's life, like what they ate, their living quarters, and medical tents! Do you know some doctors used dead bodies as a wall? **A/N That is not true, but it said so in a book I read...** Then, they used the wall to shield them from the cold! So cool! *cue thy sarcasm*

At the end of the lesson, the homework that my teacher assigned to us was all done. I did it while she was lecturing us, and it was no problem because all the answers were in her speech. And plus it looked like I was taking notes! Win-win! **A/N Did anyone do that before?**

Class ended with Ms. Nicoletta giving a lot of people detentions for 'missing valuable information' or 'wasting straws by spitting spitballs'. Fortunately, we were left with no casualties.

*skip to lunch*

"Hey America!" Celeste and Marlee said to me as I sat down with my disgusting lunch. Today they were serving mashed potatoes and gravy. The mashed potatoes were melting like wax, and I'm not even sure the gravy is even 25 percent chicken or turkey.

"Hi Marlee and Celeste!" I said back to them, "do you know what Adam did today?" Then Marlee raised her eyebrows and started jumping up and down on her seat and it kinda looked like she was seat-twerking... But Celeste's expression was unreadable. Was that... Concern? But Marlee's squealing turned my attention (and many others attention in the room) to her.

"Oh my gosh? Did he propose to you? Did he give you a handful of roses? Tell me tell me tell me!" I pulled her back down into her seat.

"None of the above," Marlee made a mock sad face and I laughed at that and continued on, "but he asked me out to a date and to watch the swim meet with him! But I sai-" I was interrupted by Celeste saying, "wait, the swim meet? Did you agree to watch him because if you said yes-" I butted in, "I was getting to that part, Celeste. I said no to the watching him at the meet because then Aspen would be there and I'm trying to avoid him right now." I explained to her.

"Good! Now guess what guys! I have my 3rd degree black belt testing today! I'm so ready to kick some guy or girl's ass today!" Celeste practically yelled with excitement to us, but I'm pretty sure that the whole school could hear the announcement that Celeste can kick your ass if you even try to hurt her since she is a upcoming 3rd degree black belt.

We spent the rest of the lunch time just talking about random and sometimes perverted stuff.

You probably don't want to know what happens during the school day so I'm just going to skip to the interesting part of the day... MY DATE WITH ADAM!

I went to go to the school cafeteria to go meet up with him. When I first entered the cafeteria, I saw Adam laughing leisurely with his friends. I walked up to him and he stepped forward to embrace me in a hug.

"Hey guys this is my girlfriend America," Adam introduced me to his friends. I waved to them and all of them smiled and waved back. They looked like synchronized robots for goodness sakes!

"Yup, and we are going on a little date right before my swim meet, so see y'all later!" Adam said as we walked out of the cafeteria.

"So where are we going?" I asked Adam. He had a thoughtful look on, then a mischievous smile on his face. Uh Oh...

"It's a surprise, and I am going to be blindfolding you," Adam said as he took a handkerchief out of his pocket.

"Adam, I don't think that's nee-" my words were cut off by a lingering kiss, "well, okay Adam. Just this time!" He smiled with victory and put the blindfold over my eyes. All light was blocked out and I barely contained a squeal when I was swept off my feet and then placed on his back a piggy-back style.

"What are you doing, Adam?!" I squealed, trying to find my balance on his back.

"It's a surprise, and would you stop moving? If I fall, you are coming down with me," I immediately calmed down, and Adam let out a gut wrenching laugh that made me bounce on his back.

"What's so funny Adam?" I was confused by his laugh, "not everyone wants to go to the ER by the end of the day." But he just continued laughing. I punched him on the back and he said back to me, "okay! okay! I was just laughing at what things calm you down and what things don't." That was true, once, he gave me a new set of art supplies and I couldn't calm down until he started tickling me. Doesn't it usually work the opposite way?

I felt him move forward, deeper into the hallways of the school. It was just a comfortable silence until I heard Adam say, "Hey" to a random guy in the school. But I immediately recognized the random guy when I heard his deep, melodic, smexy voice reply back to Adam with a hey. Shivers rolled down my back. It was Maxon.

**MAXON'S POV:**

I need a distraction. Why can't I get her out of my head? Her ice blue eyes and her fiery hair. Damn it, I need a distraction, quick.

I was walking down the hallways, smirking at the gaping and longing glances from the girls and the jealous looks from the guys. I winked at a random girl with a big chest and she immediately started hyperventilating and rapidly talking to the girls around her.

I turned to go toward the cafeteria to get an after-school snack. I heard some voices- probably a couple laughing together. I was curious on who the people were, so I turned a corner and I saw America and Adam laughing together. I continued my walk to the cafeteria with my head down, until I heard a "hey" from a guy. I snapped my head up and my heart broke at the sight I saw.

America was perched on top of Adam's back, with her arms wrapped around his neck. Her chin was rested on top on his head and she was blindfolded. I sighed and said a "hey" back to them.

I need to get America back from Adam. That should have been me carrying her, and it should have been me laughing with her.

But how will I get her back?

**AMERICA POV (sorry for so many POV changes...) :**

I was sitting on the back of Adam's car, still blindfolded. Doesn't he know better? Note to self: when I get de-blindfolded, I am definitely kneeing him. Adam takes a sharp right, then we hit a speed bump, making my head bump the top of the roof, and the car stops.

He has to work on his driving skills. Big time.

I yell out, "Adam, can I PLEASE take it off? I'm going to knee you if you don't!"

"First, let me lead you out here. We don't need a trip to the ER right?" He chuckled back.

I mentally groan.

Plus, I think I already need a trip to the ER because this blindfold seems like it is cutting off blood circulation to my brain, and the hit on my head (from the car ride) certainly did not help at all.

He makes me go on his back and piggybacks me there. Suddenly he stop and drops me.

Curse him.

He takes off the blindfold and does a dramatic theatric bow. In front of me I see the restaurant Bananabee's. He gives me a wide shiny smile, and I give him a kiss on the cheek. I hug him and say, "Oh my goodness! You didn't have to do this!"

"Well, I am your awesome boyfriend," and gave me a wink that made my heart flutter.

We walked in hand-in-hand in the restaurant and saw majestic lighting with stained glass chandeliers. The restaurant had a vintage style looking design, while having a heartwarming atmosphere.

"Table for two please."

"Ok, why don't you take the table number 17 over there?"

I gave the waitress a wide smile and a thanks, and joined Adam as we walked to table 17. I watched as other couples and groups sat at their tables and I held hands with Adam across the table.

"So what do you want today, my beautiful Meri?"

I blushed and replied, "I'll take some orange chicken and strawberry tarts."

"Ah, a chicken lovin' girl. I knew I should have taken you IFC (Illea Fried Chicken)! I'm more of a pizza guy with parmesan and pepperoni." Adam said with an Italian accent. I chuckled.

The waitress came over and took our orders. But, I feel like someone is watching me from the right of me, but when I turn my head, only a couple was there, laughing. I scrunched my eyebrows in confusion and gave the waitress my order.

Food came eight minutes later. I inhaled the scent of the dish. When I looked up, I see Adam having a mysterious smirk on his face. Quick as lightning, he takes a chicken from me and eats it.

"HEY GIVE THAT BACK! MY POOR CHICKEN! Fine."

I took a piece of pepperoni from his pizza and ate it. I put on a victorious smile and puff out my chest.

"Fine, fine. Do you want your chicken back?"

"Ew! Gross! Keep it!" I giggle.

He starts talking about swim team, but the feeling of someone staring at me was still there. I turn my head, and I see Maxon staring at me, but then he shifted his eyes to glare at Adam. He shifts his gaze back to his date, who is Elise. What is Maxon doing here?

"So are you going to Carter's birthday party tomorrow?" Adam's voice took me out of my thoughts.

"Oh yes of course! I'm guessing you are too?" Suddenly, a pained look appeared on his face, but just as I saw it, his face turned into a fake smile and replied back with fake enthusiasm in his voice, "Yup! So what did you get him?" Why is he acting like this?

"I got him a guitar for Carter, what'd you get for him?" I replied back to him. But instead of replying, his phone went off. Carter took out his phone checked it. He gave me an "I'm sorry" look. "I have to go now, America for my meet, I'm sorry for ending our date this early." He said in a genuine sad while standing up from his chair and putting a 20 on the table.

I also stood up from my chair and went to go around to stand by Adam. I kissed him lightly on the lips and said, "it's fine, I had a fun time, Adam."

He left the restaurant, and I followed him out and gave him one last kiss before parting our ways. I started walking home in the cold, November air. **(A/N Great way to treat your date, Adam!) **I contemplated calling Celeste, Marlee or my mom to pick me up and drop me off to my house, but I realized all of them were busy. My mom had a big art presentation, Marlee had a date with Carter, and Celeste had a 3rd degree black belt testing. Remind me to not get Celeste angry anytime soon.

So I just started walking home in the chilly weather until I heard a car honk behind me. I turned and saw a golden car with a hand sticking out its window, waving at me. I was confused. Was someone stalking me? Then suddenly, the car pulled up on the curb and someone walked out of the car. There stood Maxon himself.

"Hey America!" He said. Wow! I'm surprised that even knows my name. I bet that player can't even name all the people he slept with.

"Hi Maxon," I replied in a dull tone, "What are you doing here?"

"Oh, I was just driving around and I saw you walking. It's cold outside and I didn't want you to catch a cold." He replied in a nonchalant tone. When did Maxon care about others? I bet this is just a way to get me back to him, and his "ways" aren't gonna work on me. And I also bet the note was just to soften me up for me to forgive him. And I am going to stay strong and repel his ways to get me back.

"Why would you care?" I replied back in a stiff tone.

"Look, America, I said I was sorry for that night and I just want to talk to you about why I acted that way. But I also need for you to know that you also hurt me." Ha! I doubt it.

I scoffed, "So you think giving me a reason on why you acted so rude to me will help me forgive you?"

"I need to know why on you ditched me. So can you just get in my car and I'll drive you home and I'll explain to you." I complied to his thoughts, despite my mind telling me not to. I got into his car and I was hit by the smell of leather.

"First things first, my address is 3561 **(do you get it? 35 girls, 6 are elite, 1 is chosen) **NE 1st Place, Carolina, Illea 87654. And second, why are you doing this, and why are you accusing ME for ditching you? You are the one who ditched me first."

"That's why I came to sort things out."

"Fine. Just be quick." I replied stubbornly.

"Ok," he released a sigh,"the day that you were gone, someone told me that you were going to the dance with Adam. So I-"

"What the hell? I was in the hospital! I didn't tell anyone that I was going to the dance with Adam!"

"That's why I am talking to you right now." He replied calmly. He shook his head, as if he was clearing his mind. "Wait. You were in the hospital?"

"Yeah. Kriss and Aspen are the reason why I was there." I could see his grip on the wheel tighten visibly. "Anyway, I was planning to go with you, and I didn't tell anyone to tell you that I was not going with you."

"They hurt you so much that you got sent to the hospital?" He said, still obviously on the topic of me in the hospital. "Are you okay? What happened?"

"It doesn't matter though. Do you know who told you that I was going to the dance with Adam?"

"A seven." He said. I mentally facepalmed. He is so scumbag sometimes! There are so many sevens in the school!

"Maxon," I said, gritting my teeth, trying not to yell at his stupidity, "You've got to be more specific than that."

"Oh! Oh yeah, heheh. She had blonde hair with bangs," I narrowed down my list of people, "and she had green eyes." Yup. The one and only Hannah Rotwan. She had been a fangirl of Kriss for who knows how long.

"Ok, I know who she is. She probably got used-"

"By Kriss." He finished. Then all the gears clicked in my head. The whole incident of them attacking me was for Kriss to get Maxon.

"Oh, I'm so gonna dump her." WHAT? THEN WHO WAS THE GIRL HE WAS JUST WITH? THAT MAN-WHORE...

"Who was the girl you were just with, Maxon?" A sly look appeared on his face. Ugh. I'm so disgusted. He is proud of what he does with girls. That son of a-

"That was my date, Elise. I've been thinking of dumping Kriss a long time ago. She was way too cli-" I interrupted him with my firmest voice possible.

"Maxon! What you do with girls is not funny in any way. You should not be proud of what you are doing, and you should be ashamed on what you are doing. Even if you are a player because of what your dad does, you should stop right now. You know what? You disgust me. I'm out of here." Thankfully, it was a red light, so I opened the door, grabbed my belongings, and said, "thanks for the ride, Maxon" with gritted teeth.

I wanted nothing to do with him.

I walked the way back home with steam coming out of my ears because of how angry I was at Maxon. This time, I will never forgive him. But deep in my heart, I knew that I would regret saying that to him.

**Oh noes! I hate myself for making Maxerica in a fight. Ahh... Ugh... This is not going to be a perfect Maxerica story! The perfect story for me would be "The One" but instead, America will play the hard-to-get card, making her irresistible to Maxon. Aspen then gets shot in the head, and then they will have a perfect life, like a roller coaster that only goes up! (I hope that was the correct quote) and then they will have tons of Maxerica babies! Well, now you know what would be my perfect story... Anyway, THE REPLIES:**

**Theoneforever: :) When I told my sister to read it, she started giggling like crazy. Like this: BWAHAHAhahahahahaYYYYYAAAAALOLIEzzzz!**

**PEETAMELLARKLOVER123: The funny thing is that I still didn't get school supplies, when school starts in 1 week…**

**going for the win: XD lol. If that happened to our teacher, she would say: "Put your heads down! NOW!"**

**Mhpropp16: Thanks!**

**EruditeAbnegationMockinjay: Thank you!**

**The Selection Fangirl: Thanks you! Psst…You are very close… Shhh..**

**Kiren: Yup! The guys in my school were singing also the knife song! But, instead of using knifes, they used pens and pencils, and the teachers got extremely angry. **

**luv2read4reading: OH MY GOSH! AN EPILOGUE!? AHHHHH! NO ONE TOLD ME ABOUT THISS!**

**lovewords: :) lol. You're so funny!**

**Guest: Why thank you!**

**Dianastyles: : )**

**ericasfanfic445: Why thank you! I read your story, and it was hilarious!**

**alexham19: I am glad you enjoy this story!**

**Aquagirl123: Thank you!**

**EmilyTheNerd: Thank you so much! I learned so much from your review! Yes, I did read the Divergent Trilogy. I'll definitely keep in mind your critiques when I'm writing. Once again, thanks!**

**Demigod-Gallagher-Witch-Girl: Thanks! Here ya go! Chapter 10!**

**Thank you for getting me up to 10^2 reviews! (Do the math)**

**Thank you all soooo much for reviewing! And Oh my gosh I am so sorry for not updating within 4 days... I have no excuse for that other than I REALLY NEED AN ALARM TO TELL ME WHEN TO UPDATE...** **Also, sorry for all the grammatical and conventional errors! I type on my IPad and my fingers happen to be conveniently stubby... And also, spell check happens to be my enemy. Every time I type Maxon, Siri changes it to Mason... Heh heh. Well enough of that awkwardness. (My sister always says that I always create awkward silences... I guess she is correct. ) **

**Anyway... Mmkay, Baiiii**

**~ClaceMaxericaSizzy**


	11. Chapter 11- Carter's Birthday (Part 1)

**Here ya go!**

**Disclaimer: I DONT OWN ANY PARTS TO THE SELECTION TRILOGY. oh man, this is getting old...**

* * *

**Chapter 11: Woody's Birthday (Part 1 out of 2-4) I still don't know how many parts...**

**AMERICA POV:**

"…so then, I gave him a cute smile and started walking towards him, did a backflip, then a sweep kick, then a roundhouse kick to the thigh, and pinned him down with an elbow strike in less then 20 seconds. But the thing is, before the match, I told him 'don't go easy on me just because I am a girl!' but, he still fell for the 'cute smile' strategy I had. UGH! I hate it when boys do that!"

Yup. That was Celeste telling on how her 3rd degree black belt testing went. As of today, she is currently a ninja. That loves hot pink. And rainbows and ponies. Very macho.

"But, you beat him right?" Marlee questioned while painting Celeste's toes light pink.

"Well, duh! Of course I did!" She exclaimed while curling my hair.

"Well, yesterday, I had a run-in with Maxon." I told them, while braiding Marlee's hair.

"OMG. What did he do? I specifically threat him after I head locked him. Ah. It was so refreshin-"

"YOU WHAT?" I said in alarm. I didn't know that was what Celeste meant by "confronting someone." Oh dear.

"Heh. What I meant, uh, was that I politely told him not to harm you. And I kept my hands and feet to myself. Er, I pinky promise." She added quickly.

I cleared my throat. "Anyway, we found out that all of the drama between us wouldn't have happened if Kriss wasn't here."

"We all wish for that to happen, America." Marlee patted my leg.

I rolled my eyes. "So, Kriss told this girl named Hannah, who is a huge fan of Kriss, by the way, to tell Maxon that I was going with Adam to the dance. So then, Maxon started dating Kriss, and I started dating Adam, so yeah. But the thing that pissed me off the most about him, was that he thought that dating, then dumping, was fun! Like who does that?" I secured Marlee's braid while Celeste hair sprayed my hair.

"Well at least you aren't dating that jackass. He's a playa." Celeste said.

"Yeah, you got Adam, who is not a jerk, not a player, not a heartless being, and not an idiot!"

"But you know the bracelet he gave me? He gave it back a couple days ago, having a note attached to it that said that he was sorry."

"Wait, he said he was sorry?" Celeste murmured in a surprised tone. She suddenly had a thoughtful face on and started muttering things under her breath. She brought out her phone and typed something.

"Celeste? What's wrong?" I said to her.

"Nothing! Nothing is wrong! Anyway look at us we look hot, like smoking hot!" Not to be vain, but it was true. We are all wearing our dresses and we all had a little purses contain our swimsuits and coverups. We also were holding our gift bags too.

I had whitish silver blue eyeshadow to match my dress and my blue floral jean vest. I had my hair in a French braid with curled extra hair framing my face. My lipstick was a pale pink and the mascara on my eyes made my eye color look a ice blue, instead of a dull gray. I was wearing heels that weren't like death machines. My strappy heels were white and had little bows.

Marlee had a gray smokey eye with mascara and a nude lip. The gray sweater dress hugged her curves and went up to her knees. Her hair was pulled up in a rose bud braid (done by me!) and she had little gladiator sandals (despite the November weather).

Celeste had a pink lip and soft pink eyeshadow with mascara covered eyes that matched her pink skater dress. Her pink skater dress reached mid-thigh and had a black belt going around her waist with a little bow. She had tan ankle boots that had fringes.

Wow! We look hawt and ready to go!

Whoops. Forgot one last thing.

20 pounds of concealer for my legs and arms. Darn it. I quickly swiped on the concealer to mask up my faded bruises.

Now we are ready to go!

We all hopped in Marlee's car and drove there. On the way there, Marlee and I were chatting about random stuff. We tried adding Celeste to the conversation, but every time that happened, she was too busy being immersed in her phone. Girls and their phones these days.

After 5 minutes, we arrived at Carter's house at promptly 2:00. I walked inside, and I was surprised by the transformation of the place! I've been here many times because of Marlee and this place never looked better. There were strings, balloons and gifts everywhere, and there was a huge cake in the corner of the room, waiting to be cut into.

We were greeted by Carter hugging all of us and gave a peck to Marlee. But it just wasn't a peck. The kiss deepened and I had to shout "Get a room!" so they could stop making the awkwardness in the room rise. They broke apart with loving smiles and I could tell that they were meant to be. **(Carlee or Marter or Carmar?! I dunno their ship names... Lol)** I placed my present on the present table and there I saw Adam. We made eye contact and he started coming over toward me.

"Hello America!" Adam said to me in a cheery tone.

"Hi Ad! How'd the swim meet go?" I replied back to him while giving him a hug and a quick peck on the lips.

"Oh it was great! I was first in my heat." I clapped my hands and congratulated him. I was about to say something to him but I got interrupted when I heard what sounded like a hoard of squealing moose. I looked around for the moose, but instead I saw something worse.

About every girl was squealing and crowding around someone with golden hair and brow- oh, yeah... Maxon. Yup, as expected of those hormonal girls. I bet he's just going to flirt with them all like the player he is. But Maxon did something unexpected.

He waved at them all like how a star would greet his fans, and didn't grope or wink at them or even smirk at them. WHAT. JUST. HAPPENED.

**MAXON POV: **

At about 1:30, I got a text from a random number, 789-012-3456 **(not a real number- don't try to call)** I opened my phone and saw the text.

_You said sorry_

I was about to reply when another text came from the same number.

_By the way, this is Celeste, not a creepy girl from your fan club..._

Ahh... So it was Celeste. But I still didn't understand. I never apologize. Who apologized to who?

_M- Celeste, I don't know what you are talking about. Who did I say sorry to?_

_C- America. You never apologize to anyone!_

_M- ohh... Umm..._

_C- U like her don't you?_

_M- Why should I tell you?_

_C- if you really like her, and you are not using her as a toy, I can help you get her._

_M- Um..._

_C- ..._

_M- last time, you threatened to beat me into pieces of *insert poop emoji here*_

_C- well, you called her beautiful, so I was confused if you were going to a new level of player. So I took the easy route and supposed that you were going to just use her. At that time, I only had one piece of evidence._

_M- ok then, I'll admit it. I like her._

_C- If you want her back, first things first, don't act like such an ass._

_M- got that covered._

_C-second, don't flirt at at all the girls who throw themselves at you and vice versa_

_C- but other than that, I have my suspicions about Adam and Kriss. I have a lot of connections in this school._

_C- also, make sure you stay near her today, but don't make it obvious that you are following her._

_M- why u helping me _

_C- then you can stop hurting other girls._

_C- and since you have just apologized to her, and called her beautiful, I think she might just be your one._

Just like that, I knew she wasn't kidding.

I walked to Carter's house, lugging my gift that I got for him. He's my best bro! I got him a huge trophy that was custom made, that had the plague saying 'The Best Friend'. I also got him a game for that Xbox called Mario Motorsports: the Ultimate Prix. He always said that he wanted to beat Luigi, so I bought him another game with Luigi in it.

I opened the door to Carter's house and was hoarded by a ton of girls in the sluttiest clothes possible- too tight dresses, skirts that barely passed their butt and so short that you can see underwear, and low-cut necklines so that their womanly parts were basically hanging out. I heard someone cough, and I saw Celeste. I glanced over to her and she had an eyebrow raised. I realized what I was doing and walked forward, waving at everyone and ignoring every girl's attempt to seduce me. I'm ready to show America that the old Maxon is gone and he has changed.

I snuck a look at America and I smiled at two things. First, I smiled because she looked uttelrly surprised at my behavior. And two, she looked beautiful. Her hair was tied into a braid with little pieces of hair framing her face. She had a simple white dress, and silvery white makeup, making the illusion that she was glowing. I snapped out of my trance and walked toward Carter who was equally surprised.

I reached Carter and said to him, "Hey bro! Happy Birthday!"

"Wha? Oh yeah, thanks dude!" Carter said back to me.

We waited for another 2 minutes for the rest of people to arrive. Then Carter stood up on a chair, and said, "HEY ALL! THANKS FOR COMING TO THIS PAAARRRTAYYY! THE POOL IS READY TO USE, SO GET INTO YOUR SWIMSUITS AND ASK EITHER MAXON, MARLEE, OR AMERICA TO GET DIRECTIONS TO THE POOL, SHOWERS, AND DRESSING ROOMS! MAXON, AMERICA, MARLEE WHY DONT YOU STAND UP AND SHOW YOURSELVES!" I stood up, and so did Marlee and America, and waved to everyone. Carter continued, "NOW GOOOO!"

A bunch of boys rushed toward America, who nobody noticed was the eight that they always bullied. She looked uncomfortable and started directing people to the changing rooms. I did the same to some of the other people and showed them toward the pools. When about everyone was gone except for Marlee, Carter, Celeste, America, and me, we all met up around the gift table.

"Um, Carter, I can't swim because then my bruises will show and they will sting." America said cautiously to Carter. He nodded in understanding and said to her, "That's alright, America. But then you'll just be the only person not in the pool."

I decided to speak up. "She's not going to be the only one, Carter. I can stay out with her." I looked at America and saw emotions swirling in her ice blue piercing eyes. I saw anger and fear, but I also saw relief? I don't know. I looked away from her. Celeste eyed me and gave me a silent message: _you hurt her, you become a woman. Don't be a jerk. _And she raised a fist. She seriously scares me.

"Well, okay, I can also visit America too sometimes. Now what are we waiting for! Let's change!" Marlee said excitedly to us all. We nodded in agreement and went upstairs to change. I chose to change into my swimsuit but keep my shirt on because my father's recent whippings were still healing.

I walked outside into the indoor pool room and saw America in her swimsuit and coverup. She looked absolutely beautiful. Before I could start drooling, she said to me, "Well, I'm guessing I'll be hanging out with you today." And after a silent agreement, chose to sit down on the patio chairs next to each other.

After a moment of silence I decided to end this awkwardness by apologizing to her, but before I could say anything, America spoke up. "It's because of your scars isn't it?" She said to me.

I turned and looked at her in confusion. "What?"

"Your scars, that's the reason you are not going to swim." Sometimes she can just see through my mask and understand me so well.

I said to her, "Oh. Yeah, I had a recent one. But, look. I'm very sorry about-" Suddenly Kriss appeared wearing a strapless, skimpy low-cut bandeau, and a piece of string plus a three wide inch piece of fabric. And the worst part? It was three sizes too small and her chest was basically hanging out.

"Hey babe, why don't you join me in the hot tub and ditch this piece of shit... You know... Just you and me... We can do some fun stuff... alone..." She said, trying to be seductive and emphasizing the alone part. I immediately was immersed with anger after when she called America a piece of shit.

"Kriss, just go away and hang out with your other slut friends. You disgust me and try wearing some other swimsuit that isn't just a strip of fabric. America happens to be a wonderful girl, and you just have to bring her down everyday, and I bet you are just jealous of her. So just go away." I sneered at her.

Kriss looked at me with surprise and stomped away, her hips swaying and her mouth cussing, attracting the attention of most of the male population in the room.

I continued on, "so, America, as I was saying, I'm so sorry about last time on the car. I'm not proud of what I do and I will stop being this kind of player. Can we just please, please start over?"

"Fine," she muttered. I felt a weight lift off my shoulders, but was replaced with dread once she said, "so friends then?"

I mustered a smile and stuck out my hand. Then I forced out to America, "Friends."

America shook my hand and smiled back. Then her face turned serious. "So what was it this time?" America asked me, "you know, about your back."

**AMERICA POV:**

"So what was it this time?" Confusion racked his face so I continued on, "you know, about your back." Maxon's face turned stony, and he grimaced. "You promise not to tell anyone?" He said to me. I nodded and he leaned him to whisper in my ear. My face then flushed because of Maxon's breath on my ear, and I realized the proximity of him. I tried to cool down my cheeks as he explained why.

"It was because I forgot to my homework on finances." He shrugged. I was truly shocked by this. Just because of homework he got whipped? If I were in his household, I would already have 200 whippings.

"Maxon! This is serious! You have to stop him!" I whispered harshly in his ear. He leaned back into his chair, seemed to consider this but he just shrugged.

"Who would believe me? He is a CEO of a huge company! Everyone thinks that he treats me like a prince! And even if they find out about it, my father would just make up a story about my lashes." He said matter-of-factly. That was true...

"Also, he's gotta stop one day." He said to me, "and can I ask you a question?" I nodded and he continued on, "why do Aspen and Kriss bully you?" I froze on that topic and I could feel all the blood rushing from my face. Maxon noticed this and touched my arm. I immediately calmed down, took a couple of deep breaths and I whispered to him, "I don't want to talk about that." He nodded in understanding and relaxed back into his chair.

"So what did you get Carter?" Maxon said, trying to change the topic.

"Um, I got him a guitar and some picks. How about you?"

"A best bro trophy and a Mario Kart game!" Maxon said with swag in his voice.

"Wait. Can you repeat the second half of what you just said?"

"...uh. Mario Kart game?"

I face-palmed. What was he thinking?

"Never mind. But have you _seen _him play against Luigi?"

"Ya! It seemed like he enjoys it!"

I raised an eyebrow. "Never mind. Do you want some punch?" I asked Maxon.

"Ya sure. Make sure it has four ice cubes in it, and a purple umbrella in it."

I shook my head and muttered 'boys' under my breath. I stood up and started walking towards the drinks.

But I never made it there.

I see a flash of brown and I feel myself falling.

My head hits a bony surface, and I am immersed in water.

I black out.

**...**

**Lalalalalalalala Chapter 12 minus 1! (Do the math and get ready for school!)**

**Thanks to all who reviewed! I'm not going to blab that much today... but anyway, I just finished Shatter Me and Unravel Me! I was so distracted by that book that forgot to update! Reviews:**

**Kellyzoie123: Oh my gosh, yes! Exactly!**

**Kiren: Close… you were only 800% off though. :D JK! You are 25 percent correct!**

**PEETAMELLARKLOVER123: Well, Algebra isn't that bad… Sort of… We all don't want to go back to school. -.- Now, I have to wake up so much earlier. GAH.**

**Theoneforever: Yeah, it was mildly disturbing watching her laugh *cough cough, she snorts like a pig*… Thank you!**

**luv2read4reading: OH MY GOSH I JUST READ IT! IT IS SOO CUTE! Yay! Maxerica babies!**

**Dianastyles11: When I used the translator, it popped up as something I didn't understand! Don't worry, I do care about your reviews!**

**belledrummond2: I'd rather turn off autocorrect, but then I can't see if I spelt something wrong. Aww… Well, thank you!**

**Teal: Ya, wanted Maxerica to make up too… And thanks!**

**AddieMateo19: You are totally right! I recently reread he first few chapters, and my reaction was a HUGE facepalm. But don't worry! I am probably going to edit those, after I finish this story. I update every week for now on, because of school. And yes! I have read COHF and it was AMAZING! I totally ship it too! I have read the bonus epilogue and I was so happy when I heard about the Maxerica baby… And I recommend 'The One' by lilythemermaid. It is very good.**

**lovewords: America is going to play somewhat hard to get with Maxon in a way and Adam… Well, I'd better just stop here before I tell you the whole plot… ;)**

**alexham19: Well, about Adam and his closet, you'll have to wait! I can't tell you much, because then my sister will hold up a sign that says SPOILER ALERT!**

**Yup! That is all for today! Goodbye summer and hello school! Because of this, I may not update as frequently. :( But probably every week or so.**

**~ClaceMaxericaSizzy**


	12. Chapter 12- Woody's Birthday

**Disclaimer: Don't own anything...**

**Chapter 12: Woody's Birthday (Part 2)**

**AMERICA POV:**

Darkness... Ugh... Why does my head hurt so much? Ahh... I feel weightless...

I snap awake. I raise my hand to touch my face and I feel ice packs crowning my face.

Wow. Dejavu much?

I check my surroundings without raising my head and see I am on a king sized bed in a bedroom of some kind. There are many posters of the Seahawks, Mario, and other types of football things littered around the walls and a pile of clothes in the corner. Wait... Clothes in the corner? I look down and see I'm in an oversized shirt. I sit up, surprised, and a hand drags me down. I look towards the hand's owner and I see a soaked Maxon looking back at me. His blond hair clung to his forehead, and his back was in a slouching position. He opens his mouth and says something intelligible.

"Wait, what?" I say to him. I try to clear out my ears and I find it successful.

"Wow America! Only 20 minutes and you're awake!" Maxon grinned at me. 20 minutes? Did I fall asleep? Then all the memories came rushing toward me.

_"America! Watch out!__" __Celeste yells._

_I feel as my body falls. I see brown hair whipping past me. Kriss._

_I hit someone__'__s shoulder, and I am immersed in water._

_I black out._

Then a bunch of questions came rushing to my head. Why was I dressed in a oversized shirt? Who's bedroom was I in? Why was Maxon soaking wet?

"America? America. Hello?" Maxon's voice snapped me out of my trance.

I blink. "Yeah what?"

"You had a blank face for a second. Just wanted to make sure you were alive." He said to me smiling.

"Oh. Okay." I smiled back at him. "Um, Maxon, whose bedroom am I in?" I asked.

"You're in Carter's bedroom," Well, that explains the Mario posters, and not any Luigi posters, "Yeah, so do you need anything?" Maxon asked me. Well, other than a gun to shoot Kriss for pushing me into the pool, I feel really disgusting and wet.

"Um, can I have a towel to dry me off?" I asked politely.

He gave me a smile and went to grab a towel. I watched as he went, but noticed something.

Blood.

Streaks of red was bleeding into his shirt and the wetness of the shirt clung on to his back, making the shirt translucent. I clearly saw the ripped skin and the purple bruises on his back.

Maxon turned and tossed me a towel and sat next to me, readjusting all of the ice packs that sat messily on my head. I just stared at him, astonished.

He noticed my unusual lack of words and my staring and said, "What?" How can a person be so blind? Maxon himself is obviously in pain, and he is taking care of me!

I sighed at his stupidity and said to him, "Your back."

"Shit. I rebadged this morning."

"Take off your shirt." I noticed how perverted and sexual that sounded, and I blushed at the thought of doing that with Maxon. KEEP YOUR MIND CLEAN AMERICA!

He seemed to not notice the perverted version of the sentence and nodded. He started to slide off his shirt and he winced as his shirt agitated his skin. I tried to sit up and found it surprisingly easy. I slid off the ice packs and dried off myself while he took off his shirt. When I was done drying myself, I saw that Maxon was still trying to get his shirt off, so I carefully helped him peel the shirt and set it down on the ground, careful to not let the blood touch the carpet.

Once I saw his back, I was drooling. His muscles were taut- Shut the hell up America! Don't let your girl hormones act up now! Look at the important things! I focused on anything but his muscles and saw that his scars were oozing a little puss.

"Maxon, your scars are leaking puss." I explained to him.

"The chlorine must have infected them when I dived in the pool." Maxon replied.

"No shit Sherlock, now let's clean this up."

He nodded.

"This might hurt a lot." I walked to the bathroom and checked every nook and cranny until I found the rubbing alcohol and cotton balls. In the process of searching, I found some really interesting things that I would rather have wished not to seen... Anyway, I grabbed the rubbing alcohol and walked back into the room where Maxon was lying on Carter's bed. I walked to the bed, alcohol and cotton balls in hand, and soaked a cotton ball and as gently as I could, I dabbed the cotton ball on his back.

He grimaced as the cool liquid touched his skin. After I applied some antibiotics, I wrapped him in bandages. I got off the bed and sat down on the seat that back was previously sitting on.

"Thank you for doing this America." Maxon sat up on the bed, making his abs and chest fully visible. I tried to divert my eyes from his muscular chest, and succeeded in doing so, but not before as a heavy blush spread throughout my cheeks.

"You're welcome," I struggled to think of something that will keep the conversation going so that we won't be left in an awkward silence. I thought of something and continued talking, "Um, is the party still going on?"

"Yeah! Of course! Just to let you know, Kriss was kicked out of the party," I did a mental YES! in my brain, "and Marlee and Celeste put your bags and outfit on the counter of Carter's closet. Oh yeah, and Marlee put something on your legs that made your bruises disappear." I rolled my eyes at how ignorant boys are of the wonders of makeup.

"Oh, okay. Thanks, Maxon." Maxon nodded and I walked toward the closet to change my clothes.

I changed out of my swimsuit and put on my dress. I reached to pull the zipper on my back, but my stupid little arms were too short. This means- Oh no... THINK AMERICA, THINK. How would you make this situation the least awkward? This could only mean a quick escape.

I grabbed all my belongings, and I walked out the door of Carter's closet and saw Maxon waiting by the bathroom door. I took a deep breath and said to him like I didn't have an extremely awkward situation coming up, "Hi Maxon! Can you do a little favor for me?" He nodded his head and so I continued on, "can you zip up the back of my dress? Thanks."

I watched as Maxon's face turned a shade of light pink. I took this as a "continue on" signal, and I turned my back to him.

I felt as his hand touched my lower back, and slowly went up to zip up my zipper. I bet my face is tomato red. Goodness! I have got to stop blushing around him!

"Uh, yeah, thanks, again." I stupidly replied.

For a quick escape, I rushed out of the room and bumped into a pacing Adam. I smiled and he gave me a tight hug around the waist. "Oh my goodness. You are okay." Adam kissed the top of my head. "Thank goodness." He rested his chin on my forehead.

Just then, Maxon walks out.

"Hey" He gives a head nod to both of us, and he walks down the hallway, probably going joining the party. I heard Adam give an angry sigh and I quickly turned around to see his face red, and his fists clenched.

"Adam, what's wrong?" I said, trying to understand why he was so angry.

He threw his hands up in the air in a "are you serious" way and said to me in a menacing tone, "What was he doing in the same room as you?" What does he mean? Oh... Wait.

I try to plead for my innocence,"What? No, that's not what it looks like!" Shit. Adam, please understand... I cross my fingers in hope that he will understand what really happened.

But instead, his grip on me tightened. I felt a rush of anger. He shouldn't be acting like this when he could've easily been the one to be there for me when I fell.

"He was in the same room as me! Okay? He took care of my head! Ok? Deal with it! You didn't!" I finally break and burst out to him.

Adam slaps me and I gasp. What happened to the nice, caring Adam? He takes one step forward. "How. Dare. You." Another step. His eyes pierce into mine.

When did sweet Adam turn into this?

"Wha-" I get interrupted when he roughly kisses me and pins me against the wall. He tilts my head back and kisses my neck. I squirm under him and try to push him off, but I'm too weak.

"Adam! Stop! Please Adam!" I continue on my plead, until he silences me with his mouth.

He continues his assault on me while I bang the walls for help.

Adam pulled away and said to me, "Remember, you are mine, and no one else's."

"You're crazy, Adam! What are you doing! Stop it!" He carries me to the nearest bedroom and sets me there. He crawls on top of me as I let out a muffled yelp and scream for help.

But I heard the pumping, heart pounding music below, and I knew it was hopeless. But just as I could lose hope, I heard a pair of soft footsteps step walk into the hallway. Relief rushed through me and my muffled yells escaped Adam's lips.

I saw a golden head pop up into my peripheral view in the doorway of Carter's bedroom and his face turned murderous at the scene he saw.

He marched to the bed, and Adam, in the heat of this, just realized that there was someone else in the room. Adam quickly scrambled off the bed, muttering swear words, only to meet Maxon's fist flying toward his face. He fell down, but gained balance while throwing a back fist at Maxon's chest. The punch that Adam sent probably angered Maxon even more. Maxon aimed a side kick at his gut and sent him toppling over, hitting his head on a Mario trophy, breaking it in two parts. Maxon took this opportunity and did an elbow at his head. He crumpled down into a mass of bruised body parts. He looked up, face red and breathing heavy breaths and saw me frozen, processing what just happened to me. He walked up and pulled me into his swarm embrace, whispering sweet and comforting words in my ear as I sat there, with tears running down my face.

**Hi! How are you doing! Whoops, I guess I was supposed to update on Friday...**

**SORRY! PLEASE FORGIVE ME!**

**I had to study for some placement tests that blew up my brain.**

**Thank you for all the people that reviewed, favorited, and followed this story! It means a lot to me!**

**To answer MusicToSleepTo's question, I am less than 20 years old. That's all I'm saying :)**

**Also, sorry for not replying this chapter, it is getting late.**

**Well, okay! See ya next time!**

**~ClaceMaxericaSizzy**


	13. Chapter 13- Woodster's Birthday (Part 3)

**Disclaimer: Blah blah yakky yak. You know what is supposed to be here. (I don't own any rights to the Selection Trilogy)**

**Chapter 13: Woodster's Birthday (Part 3)**

_Previously:_

_Adam pulled away and said to me, "Remember, you are mine, and no one else's."_

_"You're crazy, Adam! What are you doing! Stop it!" He carries me to the nearest bedroom and sets me there. _

_I saw a golden head pop up into my peripheral view in the doorway of Carter's bedroom and his face turned murderous at the scene he saw._

_Maxon aimed a side kick at his gut and sent him toppling over…_

_He looked up, face red and breathing heavy breaths and saw me frozen, processing what just happened to me. He walked up and pulled me into his warm embrace, whispering sweet and comforting words in my ear as I sat there, with tears running down my face._

**MAXON'S POV:**

I embraced the crying girl once again and tried to warm her ice cold skin by stroking my hand up and down her soft arm. I wiped off the tears that rolled down her pristine face and kissed the top of her head for reassurance for her. I felt her relax in my arms and we sat there in silence, with me embracing her on my lap. It was absolutely killing me to have her this close to me and not being able to run my hands through her hair, enjoying her bubbly laugh and kissing her.

The only reason why I dated Kriss and Elise after America left me was because I needed a distraction from her. Without her, I felt so empty inside, just like a robot, void of any emotion. Why do I feel so drawn to this girl sitting on my lap? Why was she so special? Maybe she is The One for me. Well, after 30 or so girls, one has to be right for you.

"You're a great friend Maxon," America suddenly said to me, "thanks for being always there for me." _Should I tell her that I don't want to be just friends? MAN UP MAXON. Alright, here goes nothing..._

"I'll always be there for you, America. But here's the thing-"

A rustling sound to my right interrupted me. _Ugh DAMMIT. _America got off my lap and started panicking. I quickly picked America up and set her behind me and said a quick, "you'll be okay," to her ear, to reassure her. I turned my head to see Adam groaning in a fetus position. He sat up and saw me with anger blaring in his eyes.

"What the fucking hell was that for?" He said to me. Oh, I don't know? Assaulting America?

"What do you think, Sherlock? I didn't beat you into pulp for no reason. You. Hurt. America." I said, letting my anger taking over me.

His face turned from an angry face into shock and sympathetic one.

"Oh my god. Shit, I'm so sorry. Please forgive me."

I looked at him with disbelief. Forgive him? That easily? He must be crazy.

"What?" I replied.

"Forgive me."

I shook my head to clear my thoughts. "What?"

"Forgive me. I am so sorry. The truth is, I was only dating America because Kriss told me to. I did something really bad, and I didn't want anyone to know, and Kriss told me she could help. So I took the offer, and so in return I had to date America so that she wouldn't 'steal Maxon from her'. But then, Kriss saw her plan wasn't working so I had to 'emotionally scar' her. I didn't know what she meant." He took a deep sigh. "I found out what I had to do, and I guess I got so caught up in her game that I didn't care about anyone else. I am so sorry. Please forgive me." He pleaded. Ugh. I officially hate everything about Kriss now. Why did she have to go this far to get to me? We have to do something to her.

I turned my head to see America with anger in her eyes. I saw her step forward and crouched down to slap Adam's face.

"I will never forgive you for what you just did, you son of a bitch," America spat out with a glare that would turn water into ice. Damn, that girl has a mean glare.

Adam cupped his flaming red cheek and ran out the room. I was about to stop him, but I felt a cautious hand on my shoulder. I turned to see America shaking her head.

"Stop Maxon, he isn't worth your time. All we have to do now is to continue with Carter's party. If I get any more involved with Adam and Kriss..." She broke off with a deep breath.

I looked at her with bewilderment. Was she that scared of Kriss and Adam? "What the.. but-"

"Maxon, you don't want to ruin your best friend's party don't we? Let's just take care of this later," America said with a wistful tone.

I paused for a moment. Then I just contemplated for a moment about what I was going to do, and started to walk out the door. But once again, I got stopped.

"Maxon, I'm seriously considering your IQ." I stared at her, confused, "Look at yourself! How the hell do you not notice your face? Were you just going to walk down with people gawking at your purple face?"

I sighed and I started considering ideas with America.

^Page Break^

I walked down (with my face covered in whatever Celeste used to make America's bruises disappear) the stairs and into the room with America and saw everybody (minus the son of a bitch, Adam) sitting in a circle.

"I'm glad you can join us! We were just going to play a game of truth or dare!" Carter greeted. He patted a spot next to him and I sat down right next to him, joining the circle. I saw Celeste and Marlee from across the circle, dragging America into the circle. Celeste arched an eyebrow directed to me, with a "did you ask America out?" look on her face. I shook my head and she raised a finger gun and pretended to shoot herself.

Carter hushed everyone down and he started off the game.

"Marlee, Truth or Dare?"

"Truth! I'm not doing any of your dares, mister."

"Okay, Bed, Wed, Dead, Theo James from Divergent, Me, and Josh Hutcherson from Hunger Games." Carter raised his eyebrows suggestively.

Marlee thought about it for a while, and said, "Bed Theo James, Wed Josh Hutcherson, and Dead Carter Woodwork." Carter raised his eyebrows in shock and his mouth went agape. "Huh?"

"I said-"

"Yeah I know what you said. But dead me? Really?" He pretended to throw a temper tantrum and started making crying noises. "I thought I was equally as hot as them!"

Celeste piped up. "Have you seen them?"

He sighed and Marlee asked, "Maxon, truth or dare?"

I looked up and said, "Dare, I am a MANLY MAN."

There were snickers around the circled group. "I dare you to let all the girls dress you up as a girl."

I shrugged. "It doesn't really matter, I am already wearing weird makeup."

Silence.

Every head turned to see me.

Utter awkward silence.

"Awkward..." Someone sang.

More silence.

Celeste decided to break the silence. "Wow. Dude, you just said you were a manly man."

I just sat there uncomfortably, let out an awkward laugh and thought of something quick. "I meant shaving cream! That is the weird makeup I was talking about."

Every girl seem to stand up at the same time. "Okay let's dress you up!" They all ushered me into a bathroom.

Ten Minutes Later

I just scarred my life just by looking at myself.

On my eyes, I had a big black swirl coming out the corner of his eye. **Translation: a huge cat eye. Sorry. Maxon doesn't know makeup that well... **I also had electric blue pigment on his eyes. **Blue eyeshadow.** My eyelashes seem more voluminous. **Mascara and fake lashes. **It also seemed like someone look a pencil and drew on my eyebrows, making me look forever angry. I had a mustache drawn in black marker **Eyeliner** and red circles on his cheek. **Horribly applied blush.** He had electric blue lips, did the girls tattoo his lips? **It's called lipstick... **Oh god. I hope this washes out.

I honestly thought in the ten seconds I saw myself in the mirror, I became less of a man. I calmed myself, and prepared to walk out the door. _Calm down Maxon. What's the worst thing that could happen?_

I walked out the door and saw everyone with their cellphones out. Everyone started spamming their phone with pictures. Oh god please help me...

My cheeks flamed and I said, "Carter, truth or dare."

He triumphantly said, "Dare." MWAHAHAHAHAH.

"I dare _you_ to call Marlee's mom that you banged your oh-so-precious girlfriend, and you got her pregnant. Put it on speaker, too."

A bunch of oohs and giggles echoed throughout the room. I looked at Marlee (who had a heavy blush on her cheeks), and she gave me the middle finger. I shrugged and smiled back to her.

"Oh hell no!" Carter shouted and pulled off his shirt, attracting the attention of many females in this room. Marlee flipped them all off and she let out a big humph. I muttered "wimp" under my breath, making Carter elbow me.

"Uh, Celeste, truth or dare?"

She scoffed. "Duh, dare."

"I dare you... to," an evil smirk took over his face, switch clothes with Maxon." Her mouth dropped to the ground, while my eyes were as big as saucers. He punched my arm and said, "Payback, bro!" He chuckled along with everyone else at the discomfort radiating in the room from me and Celeste. We both grumbled and threw profanities at him as we exited the room.

A few minutes later, we were wearing each other's clothes.

"You go first, Celeste! Your outfit is less embarrassing." I said.

"Oh don't you dare call my dress more embarrassing than your baggy clothes! You go first!"

"But you chose to do dare! I was just a victim of your actions!"

"... Fine."

Celeste popped out of the door with my clothes on and I followed her with Celeste's clothes on. We both were red from embarrassment as we posed for the cameras.

Celeste had my outfit on, which was much to big for her. She wore a muscle t-shirt and it basically sagged on her since it was so big. My jeans on her were drooping on her waist, only being held up by a very tight belt, and her shoes were basically the ends of her pants.

But honestly, I think my outfit was worse.

"How do girls wear these things?" I whined.

"What?"

"These torture devices!" I pointed to Celeste's fringed boots.

Half of the room facepalmed.

I was wearing Celeste's pink dress on. Obviously, I felt really uncomfortable because the dress was basically spandex, and was choking my body. The dress ended right above my underpants so I looked like I was just wearing a tank top.

Celeste and I rushed back to the bathroom, traded and changed to our clothes.

"America, truth or dare?" Celeste said to her.

Her head snapped up. "Truth," she replied quickly.

Celeste had a smirk on her face. "Rate all the guys in this room from 1-10. 10 being hot and dateable, and 1 being... Mediocre and undateable." She wiggled her eyebrows at her.

I looked at America and face was morphed into a mixture of surprised and a "there-is-no-way-in hell-I-am-going-to-do-that" face.

"Fine." She grumbled. "Where should I start?"

Celeste's eyes glanced over to me and then said, "The birthday boy, of course. Then you go all the way around the circle, ending with Maxon." Her eyes glinted with wickedness.

America stood up and went to Carter. "1" Carter's mouth dropped in surprise.

"Wha?"

"No, you didn't let me continue. I gave you a one because you already are dating Marlee, making you undateable."

"Then how about the hotness scale?" America rolled her eyes.

"Then it would be a 8 or 9 ish?" He smiled and did a thumbs up.

An impatient Celeste shouted out, "oh hurry up America!"

Then America went around the circle, calling out numbers and rating boys. I wondered what she would rate me. _This is just a game, Maxon._

"Dylan, five."

"Joe, five."

"George, five."

"Xavier, five."

"Bob, five."

"Five, five five, five..." My head was drowned with fives. Finally, she got to me.

"Maxon." Her eyes pierced through mine.

"Negative one." She rated me. She laughed and started to go back to her seat but I grabbed her arm and said, "Wow. You serious?"

She turned around and brushed my hand off her arm. She smiled and said, "joking. 1 for being not dateable, since you are my friend, and 9 ish for hotness. Okay?" She gave me a thumbs up and turned and walked to her seat.

Ouch. That hurt.

I hate the word "friend". Well, only when America addresses me as one. Otherwise I love the word friend.

But does America actually not want to date me? Ugh... Well I'll just have to wait.

Her voice snapped me out of my thoughts. "Uh, hello?"

"Ya?"

"Just needed to make sure you were alive, because you looked a little dead for a second."

I mustered a smirk and said, "The world can't handle it if Maxon was dead."

She smiled.

From there, I shifted my gaze to Celeste, who was mouthing, _you looked like an idiot._

"Uh, well, Carter, truth or dare?" America asked.

"Aw yeah! Dareeeee!"

"Um.. I dare you to reach into your refrigerator and grab three things, blind, blend it together, and drink all of it."

He scoffed. "Simple."

We followed Carter as he walked over the kitchen to his refrigerator. He covered his eyes with his sleeve. We watched as his hand scrounged for stuff in the fridge. He picked Nutella and put it on the counter, mayonnaise, and eggplant. Ooh. Yummy.

I felt sad for Carter as he lowered his arm that was covering his eyes and looked at the materials he chose. His eyes widened with shock as looked around helplessly. I watched as America triumphantly grabbed the materials and grabbed a big chunk of everything and threw it in the blender. She pressed the "blend" button and after a few seconds of people gagging at the smell and several "oh man, I feel sorry for you"s, the concoction was finally done.

It was a yellowish brown and it smelt like someone wretched into a pool. I'm so glad I didn't do this dare.

We all watched as Carter smelt the concoction and almost dry heaved. He took a couple of deep breaths, and he choked down the mixture. "Aw gross" and "eww" comments were spouting from all over the room. We watched as his eyes widened and his face turned red, and with a mouth filled with eggplant/Nutella/mayo, he spit it in the sink and heaved into it. Carter rinsed his mouth out and gagged once more. People patted his back, and when he finally got up, he was mouthing profanities.

"That was disgusting! Agh!" Carter exclaimed. He rinsed his mouth out and spat into the sink. He then wiped his mouth with a towel and did an okay symbol.

"I'm fine! Now-" a series of beeps interrupted him. "Oop! It's time to watch our movie!" There were a series of cheers and we all followed him into the screening room. But I chose to ditch the mob of people scrambling to get into the room and I quickly swiped off all the hideous makeup off my face.

When I entered the room, late, I saw Celeste's hand pop out and beckoned me to join her. I shrugged and went over to her. When I sat down, I realized that I was crammed in between Celeste and America. I bet Celeste planned this out. I turned my head when I felt a hesitant tap on my shoulder. America.

"Maxon?" Her sweet voice glided over me.

"Eh?" I felt an elbow dig into my shoulder and I turned my head to see Celeste, with a "OH MY GOSH you have to do better than that" look. She then did a "go on!" symbol, and stood up, muttering a string of cuss words on how this popcorn needs more butter, and walked outside the room. I turned my head back to America, who was twiddling her thumbs nervously. I put my hand on her shoulder and she looked up into my eyes.

"Um, I never got to thank you about what happened today. If you haven't stopped him-" her voice cracked and her eyes started watering. I hugged her and she immediately tensed, but relaxed after a while.

After a while when the lights have dimmed, she broke away from my embrace, and her watery ice blue eyes met mine.

"Thanks for protecting me, Maxon."

"Always." I smiled at her and she placed her head on my shoulder.

And for the rest of the night, we watched the movie with her head rested on my shoulder, and everything was right.

**Well, here ya go! Finally an update! 20 days yall! School just is cruel to all of us...**

**Thank you for staying with me all this time!**

**Has anyone read the Hush Hush Series? I SHIP NATCH! IM IN MY FANGIRLING PHASE RIGHT NOW.**

**~ClaceMaxericaSizzy**


	14. Chapter 14- Gossip much?

**Chapter 14: Ugh... I hate gossip**

**MAXON POV:**

I was back at school, walking down the hallways, but there was something different about the atmosphere. Everyone was whispering, huddled in their small groups.

"...changed..."

"...not him..."

"...different... dude... what happened..."

I turned and listened to some of the conversations, and I realized... They were all directed to me. I see Carter's head pop up in the crowds, and I quickly rushed toward him, thinking that Carter knows what all the talk is about me.

I see him talking to Marlee, and I interrupt their conversation. Rude, I know, but necessary.

"Guys, what is all the gossip about me?" They had confused looks after I finished, so I said a quick thanks and searched for Celeste. Maybe she would know. After all, she is the queen of gossip in this school- no piece of gossip doesn't pass through her, not one.

I am about to jog around the school to find Celeste and her brown head, but I hear a very familiar voice say, "Maxon!" And I turn around to see Celeste hobbling over in her heels. How in the world does she not fall down in those death traps? I will never understand the art of heels. I walk to her, and she grabs me by the collar.

"There! I finally got found you, dude. I have been running around searching for that golden ass of yours," Celeste states triumphantly.

I raise an eyebrow. I do no- oh wait... I do have a golden ass. Oh well.

"So why were you searching for me?" I would've added a snarky comment at the end to defend myself after that "golden ass" comment, but I thought better than that.

"Ok, so I've been listening in to some of the conversations in the school, and they are all about how you've changed since you were at Carter's! What did you do?" Celeste whispered ferociously into my ear, cautious of the surrounding people who were giving us weird glances.

"I didn't do anything! The only thing I did was- oh. Yup. That is definitely it. Oh ye-"

"What? Don't be an idiot and tell me!" She clamped her hands around my shoulders and shook me.

Wow. She is serious about gossip.

"Maxon! My goodness sakes!" She was about to lift her knee up, but thanks to my blocking skills, I narrowly avoided a serious injury.

"Wow," I whistled. "So you know, when all the girls started greeting me? I didn't do anything. I didn't flirt, check out or do my," I flipped my hair, "awesome trademark wink."

"Really? Are you serious?"

"Yeah," I sighed.

Suddenly, a bunch of girls, followed by Kriss crowded me. "Are you actually dating America?" Kriss grumpily stated.

"Yeah! You can do so much better than that!" Another girl glared, while jutting out her hip at my thigh.

"I am so gonna get that bitc-," a pink haired girl said, but then composed herself and coughed, and started twirling her hair around her finger and blinking flirtatiously at me. She stroked her hand up my arm and I edged away from it, like it was poison.

I sighed, not knowing what to say.

Suddenly, I see red. Well, not the angry kind, the hair colour kind.

"Oh my goodness! I'm sick of these rumors! I am not dating Maxon! He is my friend!' America shouted, grabbing the attention of many people, while making dramatic hand gestures. My heart dropped. I took a deep breath and waited for the girls' reactions.

The statement of me being free seemed to please the group of girls huddling me, because they all started walking away to their respective first period class. Some of them started swaying their hips as they walked away from me.

Both America and I both made eye contact at the same time. She gave me a nod and a beautiful smile, while I struggled to make my smile reach my eyes.

"I'm glad you didn't get killed by that group of girls." I tried joking.

"Haha! Me too! They seemed pretty mad at me when I walked to school! I was thinking, what did I do wrong? Lol." She replied.

I gave her a smile. We stared at each other for a while, until I realized what I was doing was creepy.

"Well, see you in Gym!" I said to her. She returned a white, teeth showing smile. I nodded and walked our separate ways.

**AMERICA'S POV: **

Today, I passed through a bunch of angry mobs of girls as I tried to walk to history. I explained to so many people that I wasn't dating Maxon so many times that my throat hurts.

Like, who made that idea up?

Right now, I was in history, avoiding all the angry glances and the airplanes that were directed to me. When was the gossip to spread my word around when I most needed it? Maybe it is just because I am a eight, that my word to others aren't considered important. Maybe I just have to get Maxon to say it, and then people will start believing me.

**Hi! So... I am currently writing Chapter 17, and I need your opinion on something:**

**Here's a little excerpt from Chapter 16:**

I chucked my half eaten apple at the garbage can and missed.

I hate when that happens. So I walked to the trash and bent down to pick it up and bumped my head against someone else's.

Adam.

I quickly scanned the crowd for two other particular people.

People that I have unfinished business with.

Aspen.

Kriss.

So what do you want? Badass Maxon or Reasonable and Calm Maxon? voice out what side of Maxon you want to show when he confronts Aspen, Kriss, and Adam!

**Oh yeah, and by the way... For all of ya HoO lovers... I FINISHED BLOOD OF OLYMPUS! AND OH MY GOSH IT IS SO SWEET AND AWESOME AND I AM FANGIRLING SO MUCH RIGHT NOW... AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH. sigh... Want any spoilers? ;)**


	15. Chapter 15- I hate gossip

**Chapter 15: Title**

**AMERICA'S POV**

I was pacing around the gym brainstorming on how I could tell Maxon to tell everyone we are not dating without it being too... Awkward.

Choice One: Ninja Ames

_Maxon walks through the door. I drop from above landing exactly right in front of him. I quickly take a potato sack over his head. I then knock him out._

_After he wakes up, he is duck taped to a bed. I place my forearm to his neck. I whisper in his ear._

_"You tell everyone we aren't dating, and I will never go ninja on you again."_

_He releases a muffled grunt._

_Oh. Whoops. I forgot to un-duck tape his mouth._

Wow. Like that's going to happen.

Choice Two: Flirty Amer Bear

_Maxon walks in, and I skip over there. I start twirling my hair._

_"Heyyyyy... Can you, um... Tell everyone that I'm not dating you? No one believes me." I blink flirtatiously and put my hand on his chest._

_"Uhh.. Sure..."_

_"Okay, thanks!" I give him a kiss on the cheek._

_He blinks once then, twice._

_"What? What did you say?"_

Ugh... None of these plans are going to work. Well, just let me wing it and see how it goes. **(That's what I usually do for class presentations... XD)**

*On the way to the gym*

We were walking down the chatter filled hallway talking about the wonders of Justin Bieber when Marlee asks the question of the day:

"America, so why don't you tell everyone that you are not dating Maxon?" Marlee asks me. I groan and I say,

"I have already tried to, Marlee. People won't listen to me. Maybe it is just because I am an eight that people won't listen to me. Anyway I'm planning to tell Maxon to spread the word around school, anyway." I finish, and Marlee shrugs.

After a moment of awkward silence, I look over to see Celeste seeming like she had something to say. I sigh, and Celeste snaps out of her daze of opening and closing her mouth.

"What's up Celeste?" I question her. She then again goes into that daze, and I snap my fingers in front of her. She sighs, and she finally speaks up.

"Would you- I mean- like, would you ever consider Maxon as a boyfriend?" She mutters out quickly. She wears a weak smile, and my mouth drops, and my eyes widen.

"What?!" I sputtered out. Does he like me? Better not think that way. Ugh... That statement just made the situation of me telling him to spread the word on us being friends a thousand times more awkward.

"Oh! Oh... Just- Never mind, it's fine. Just a silly thought," Celeste quickly waves it off. I stare at her, trying to get some answers out of her, but she was resilient to my stare, and I got nothing... Oh well.

**MAXONS POV:**

"Great job students! Gym is dismissed! Now get out and go take a shower cupcakes!" Coach blared at us.

"I'm not a cupcake!" Some guy yelled back at him. I chuckled and started to walk toward the boys changing room, but a cautious touch in my shoulder that sent tingles down my spine interrupted me. I knew who it was before I even turned around. America.

I turned around and was very conscious of my looks and smell right now. I probably smelled like onions and rotten yogurt and looked like a lion's mane. Gosh, America, why do you have to choose now to talk to me? At least she's talking to you. I raked my hands through my hair, and I felt it flop back into lion-mane mode. God dammit. When my hair is dry and gelled up, it is just a lady beacon. When it is down and sweaty, let's just say it's not attractive... My hair is a curse and a blessing.

I realize I was just staring at America when I was too busy ranting in my head, and I quickly muttered a string of cuss words, too quiet for her to hear. _Keep your cool, dude_.

"Hey, America!" I said to her, "I didn't see you there!" _Of course you didn't see her there. You don't have eyes at the back of your head! And why did you say 'I didn't see you there!', only 80 year old people at a reunion say that these days!_ I sighed at my choice of bad words.

"Um, hi Maxon!" She said awkwardly. _Please don't notice my hair... She looked up above my eyes, and yup! She noticed my hair. God dammit._ "But first, let fix your hair. No offense, you look like you are wearing a golden clown wig that was damp and... Yeah." She reached up on her tippy toes and tousled my hair around. Then when she was finished fixing my rabid-damp-clown hair, I saw her grimace at the sweat on her hand, and she wiped it on me.

I gave her a "really?" look, and started to wipe my forehead sweat on her. Immediately after I touched my hand to her ribcage, she fell on the floor laughing. I looked at her in astonishment. She was ticklish? Time to use that against her. Payback for calling me a golden clown. I tickled her and made snarky comments about her being ticklish, and she slowly stood up, with a playful glare.

But then I saw a shiver of movement behind America, and I caught glimpses of jealous girls in the corner, glaring at us and whispering things into each other's ears. I looked back at America to see her also looking at them. I nudged her shoulder and her ice blue eyes snapped back at me.

"See, that's the problem I needed to ask you about," she said, all serious to me with no traces of the happiness we just had. I looked at her, confused. What could be that serious?

She continued on, "there is too much gossip going around about us being you know..." She faded out. I thought about all the things that could go after that phrase. Use your SAT skills Maxon! What could go there? _Constipated?_ Nope. _Hungry?_ No, but I sure am. _Together?_ Ding Ding Ding! We got a winner!

"Boyfriend and Girlfriend?" I asked her. She nodded her head, and her face showed a small blush curling up her face.

"So I was thinking, because I have tried many times telling people that we are not dating and that we are just friends," my heart sank. I quickly put on a fake smile. " and they never listen, so... Um... Can you, um... sometime during the day, you tell people that we are just great friends, and we are not secretly dating...?" She ended uncertainly. Her face was now bright red, and I knew that she really wanted me to do it.

I sighed, knowing that she would tell me to do that. Keep on that smile Maxon!

"Yup! Sure, when do you want me to announce it?" I said, faking my energetic voice.

"Um, anytime is fine. Lunch, maybe?" Of course... As soon as possible.

"Yeah, sure." I gave a half smile as I felt as my heart slowly chip away.

"Thanks!" She gave me a tight hug and walked away. America smelled like vanilla.

I saw the girls in the corner glare at her as she walked away, and they gave me seductive glances as they walked toward the doorway, hips swaying like there was no tomorrow.

And then I was left in the gym alone. I crouched down, with my head in between my knees, and just sat there, with no barriers as my heart sank lower, and lower.

**Mini page break **

I sat there for who knows how long, but then I heard high heels clicking against the gym floor. I sighed, thinking that it would be a bimbo trying to find out all the gossip. So I raised an arm, and flicked it, knowing that it was the universal sign of GET THE HELL AWAY! But when I still heard heels clicking against the floor, I got frustrated and I turned my head to say "Please go away," but I saw it was Celeste walking toward me in those death traps with an eyebrow raised and arms crossed. Of course. She is the only one with that big of a tenacity to deny anyone's wishes.

"CREEPO alert." Celeste said as she whacked my head with the back of her fist. Ouch, she got some muscles there. "Did you just smell her hair? Oh gosh, you need help."

I snapped out of my daze and looked at her with a sad look, hoping that she gets the message that I'm not in the mood. But she didn't get it.

"So, what was that all about? The fake smile, the weird hug, and the awkward hair smelling?" She teased me, and I just put my head in between my knees. Then she got the point.

"I'm have to tell everyone America and I are not dating, and we are just friends this lunch." I said to the floor. I looked up and she looked at me with an unreadable expression.

Then her face softened. Celeste then leaned in and gave me a sisterly hug. I slouched my back even further. I wasn't supposed to be the one to be comforted. I was always an independent, relying on my parents only for their comfort and care. Well actually, not really. I only relied on them for food and shelter. My mom was always too busy, and my dad... Well. I just always had no one to lean on. I was my own rock. And now, I'm am cracked and nearly by a fiery red head, who had the power to break my heart again. The first time my heart broke was when my dad first hit me- I thought he loved me. Now, I have to rely on the annoying sister I never had, Celeste. I guess it won't be that bad.

"I'm sorry. This is really hard for you isn't it?" She whispered to me, rubbing comforting circles on my back as she hugged me. She pulled away, and she squatted so that she on the same level as me.

I shook my head to clear my thoughts. "It's fine." No, it isn't.

"So, what do you want to do for the announcement?" She asked me.

"We will just wait and see." I honestly didn't know what I was going to do. Eh. I'll wing it.

"Maxon. If you are thinking of winging it, don't even think about it... If that makes any sense. Everything is about being strategic. Like, I would ruin someone's birthday, rip off someone's dress, or lie, just because of a strategy I'm following. So think of a plan to say the announcement," Celeste told quietly in her Sensei Celeste mode.

We sat there in awkward silence. I looked around pursing my lips. I was tempted to sing awkward, but I was sitting next to a third degree black belt that likes to knee people. I looked at Celeste. She had her hand on her face and her eyes all squinted up. When will I get out of here? I sighed.

I tapped a random tune on the shiny, polished basketball floor, attempting to make it less awkward.

"Stop it." She gave me a glare.

I rolled my eyes. "Fine. What? You jealous of my musical ability?"

"No, you idiot. Why would I be?" She rolled her eyes back at me.

OH NO SHE DIDNT JUST ROLL MY EYES AT ME.

"Becau-" I was about to make a witty comment back at her to defend myself, but she cut me off sharply with a stop sign.

"Shut up Maxon." Celeste said in her "balanced chi mode."

We sat there for 10 more seconds.

Suddenly, I saw a mental light bulb over her head. Well no, not exactly, but she gasped and nodded to herself.

Celeste turned toward me and she sighed. "I won't like this, but here it is."

And she explained to me the parts of the plan.

**Hallo! I saw that you all wanted badass Maxon! I really thought that there would be a close race in between calm and reasonable and badass, but I guess not! Lol. But anyway, thanks for staying with me and reading this story!**

**So how's school coming along? My school has only 96 students, and there was much less homework than I had expected. Yay! But anyway, who else here hates awkward silences during lunch or anytime? I sure do.**

**Keep shipping Maxerica!**

**~ClaceMaxericaSizzy**


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